ICE Uses Facebook Data To Find and Track Immigrants, Internal Emails Show (theintercept.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Intercept: ICE, the federal agency tasked with Trump's program of mass deportation, uses backend Facebook data to locate and track immigrants that it is working to round up, according to a string of emails and documents obtained by The Intercept through a public records request. The hunt for one particular immigrant in New Mexico provides a rare window into how ICE agents use social media and powerful data analytics tools to find suspects. In February and March of 2017, several ICE agents were in communication with a detective from Las Cruces, New Mexico, to find information about a particular person. They were ultimately able to obtain backend Facebook data revealing a log of when the account was accessed and the IP addresses corresponding to each login. Lea Whitis, an agent with Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of ICE, emailed the team a "Facebook Business Record" revealing the suspect's phone number and the locations of each login into his account during a date range. Law enforcement agents routinely use bank, telephone, and internet records for investigations, but the extent to which ICE uses social media is not well known.

Comments

Is this a surprise to anyone?

[waspleg]

It has billions of users. Of course law enforcement is going to use it.

Re:Is this a surprise to anyone?

[Anonymous Coward]

i would probably google using the facebook.com tag specification. i mean google probably has better records on facebook than facebook.

Re:Is this a surprise to anyone?

[datavirtue]

Agreed. This list could on forever. Did everyone have their fucking head under a rock this whole time? What did they think Facebook was doing and did they not know the only barrier to getting your hands on the comings and going of nearly every human being was a small bit of money? Jesus. Living in this world and paying attention only leaves you frustrated as the rest of humanity catches up in only the most inane ways.

Re:Is this a surprise to anyone?

[shubus]

Yes billions of users. I am so glad not be one of them. #DeleteFacebook.

"Round up"

[Anonymous Coward]

So these aren't "immigrants" at all.

Re:"Round up"

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm deducing from context that you're butthurt about some forbidden language there that's invisible to us normal humans?

It takes a remarkable amount of self-sustaining hate and outrage to *still* be getting pissed about violations of PC orthodoxy over a year into a Trump presidency.

Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

Now uses Facebook for all their stories.

Re:Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

Putin didn't try to 'steal' the election, it was instead Cambridge Analytica, with the help of *Facebook*, that offered to do it for a price, and of course Trump and his team accepted.

Re:Slashdot

[tsqr]

Putin didn't try to 'steal' the election, it was instead Cambridge Analytica, with the help of *Facebook*, that offered to do it for a price, and of course Trump and his team accepted.

Yeah, during the primaries. You know, that period of time when what's-her-name was busy stealing her party's nomination from that crazy old coot the young kids were so in love with.

Re: Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

That dastardly Trump what with his Oceans Eleven heist.

If only rare pepes never existed, I could have continued to be a cheesemaker instead of living in this horrible World War II remake!

Re:Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

Putin doesn't care who wins. He just wants chaos in America. He won.

Re:Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

Bernie would have won

Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[Anonymous Coward]

"Federal immigration officials enforce federal immigration law."

This only seems to be a"controversy" because it hurts Democrat electoral chances...

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[bobbied]

"Federal immigration officials enforce federal immigration law."

This only seems to be a"controversy" because it hurts Democrat electoral chances...

Actually.. It is only an issue because it HELPS the democrats in their campaigns... That and the demographic most represented by illegals tends to vote democratic. So democrats get votes from today's voters from that demographic and if amnesty is given again they will have a huge influx of new voters from the same demographic.

You can bet that if the demographic was more likely to help republicans this wouldn't be a controversy unless amnesty was being discussed.

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[edtice1559]

Yes that's correct, compassion for people who committed a minor civil violation in order to come here and help their families is purely a political issue and ther's no moral authority behind it. And it was entirely invented by the Democrats. It's not that it used to be a bi-partisan issue supported by presidents from both parties and then Republicans threw immigrants under the bus in order to appeal to the more extreme part of their base. [/sarcasm] There should be a -1 Uniformed Partisanship moderation.

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[tsqr]

Yes that's correct, compassion for people who committed a minor civil violation in order to come here and help their families.

Well, that depends upon how they "come here".

The civil violation is "unlawful presence", and can come about a number of ways, such as illegal entry or overstaying a visa.

Illegal entry, aka, border jumping, is most definitely a criminal -- not civil -- offense that carries a penalty of not more than 6 months in prison, and a fine of up to $250.

There should be a -1 Uniformed Partisanship moderation.

I agree with you on that one.

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[Anonymous Coward]

Would that -1 Uninformed Partisanship moderation apply to your own comment? Asking because you don't seem to understand the difference between legal and illegal immigration.

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[bobbied]

Yes that's correct, compassion for people who committed a minor civil violation in order to come here and help their families is purely a political issue and ther's no moral authority behind it. And it was entirely invented by the Democrats. It's not that it used to be a bi-partisan issue supported by presidents from both parties and then Republicans threw immigrants under the bus in order to appeal to the more extreme part of their base. [/sarcasm]

Well now, hit a nerve have I?

Why do you somehow think your side in this debate is the ONLY one with compassion for these people? Your assumption is wrong and shows your political bias and an active unwillingness to actually SOLVE the problem. You don't want a solution, you want the election issue to campaign on.

I think if you where to really discuss this with the opposing party, you'd find them wiling to deal with this issue in a fair and compassionate way. However, you have pretty much cut off all possible avenues of discussion with your "Only we have Moral high ground" perspective that precludes any solution except yours from consideration. This has all the hallmarks of a demagogue worthy campaign issue which has more value to you unsolved. You don't want to solve this, you want to run on it.

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[Patent Lover]

So can you at least inform us of the fair and compassionate policy you're talking about?

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[AHuxley]

Illegals should not be voting in the USA.
Voting is for people who can legally vote.
Would anyone who got to the USA legally really want to see their tax money supporting vast illegal communities all over the USA?

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[CaptainDork]

And it's not like we have a decent immigration law on the books already that congress refused to fund.

Republicans are cutting off their noses to spite their face. Business needs cheap labour in order to make gobs of money.

Immigrants (legal or no) are a positive net income for America.

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep ... slap-down those border-jumping thieves and bitch-slap the ameri-sluts who pimp them. Compassion? Yes for my fellow yeoman republicans .. for slut-cunt progressives I have the back of my fist.

Re: Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[Anonymous Coward]

Put people in prison for being here illegally? Then have tax payers pay for their incarceration and the for profit prison makes money off of it. If that isnâ(TM)t some Nazi bullshit right there then you seriously need to rethink your view of the world.

Re: Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[Highdude702]

they meant Jail, and AFAIK Jails are still all state/city ran.

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a controversy because the current immigration policy doesn't stop there; all non-citizens are subject to deportation if they've gotten so much as a parking ticket in their time here, regardless of how long ago it happened or whether the country benefits from their continued presence. We're deporting educated professionals, business owners, military veterans, etc., all of whom were here legally. Until they officially receive citizenship (and sometimes not even then), it is in every immigrant's best interests to hide their status and avoid attracting attention. Might as well replace the Statue of Liberty's torch with a giant middle finger.

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[bobbied]

Yep, I can...

FIRST - Stop as much illegal immigration and encourage illegals to self deport by doing the following things:

1. Implement E-Verify nation wide and require it be followed by all employers. Follow up that requirement with strict enforcement. If you are not a citizen and don't have a work visa, you don't work here.

2. Visa exit tracking - Implement tracking of visa entries AND exits so we know who's here that have overstayed their visas. Step up enforcement of visa overstays.

3. Deport Criminals - Start deporting illegal immigrants who commit felonies after they are done with their prison time.

4. No access Social Services - Eliminate ALL social services for illegal immigrants including welfare, public education systems (including college).

5. Build the wall - Maybe not a physical wall, but a practical one. Protect our borders.

6. End "born here" citizenship for children of illegals. Make it necessary for at least one parent to be here legally before we confer US citizenship on a child.

SECOND - After the above are in place and starting to work....

1. Implement/Expand a "guest worker" visa program which allows foreign nationals to serve in seasonal labor. Make it easy to get such a visa, but make it necessary to apply for and receive it in your home country.

2. For those with existing DACA exemptions, citizenship is available after an extended wait of at least a decade if they stay here. If they wish, they will be given preferential treatment for guest worker permits. However, if they self deport, they will be able to immediately apply for citizenship and a guest worker permit with preferential treatment (the front of the line).

3. Open a path to citizenship for LEGAL immigrants based on merit. Preference given to immigrants with H1b's then seasonal work permits followed by other immigrants who apply. But, we need to end the visa lottery and chain migration beyond immediate family (To include parents, children and siblings only).

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[lsatenstein]

What is the difference between Illegal and criminal? Is an illegal automatically a criminal? And then a criminal who is illegal, does he lose his illegal status?

Re: Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[Anonymous Coward]

Its no ones fault but theres when you cross the border need to do it the legal way if you plan to stay not hide no brains those people

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[Anonymous Coward]

Given that most illegal immigration is due to visa overstays, and part of the problem is that visa renewal processing takes several months (meaning that someone that files the paperwork 2 months early, might end up here illegally because the agency can't handle the work load quickly enough). I think we need to fund the agency better so it can actually keep up with renewals.

I also think we should create a path toward visa holding for illegal aliens that doesn't require them to exit the country first, upending their lives. Perhaps priority can be given to those that are parents of US citizens, so we aren't splitting families up for uncertain reasons.

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[Anonymous Coward]

Immigrants highly affect certain workers in a few industries. Their impact is not widespread in the job market. But immigration does benefit most consumers...

Contrary to other claims, immigrants are not more likely to commit crimes than the native-born population.

https://www.thebalance.com/how-immigration-impacts-the-economy-4125413

Dunno, but perhaps they might given that it helps keep prices down. Personally, as a native born citizen, I have no problem with them as long as they aren't committing crimes (other than just being here).

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[Patent Lover]

Sound good. Let me know when the Republicans take up the bill.

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[bobbied]

This will take TWO bills.... The first has to work before the second can be done.

Feel free to offer them yourself too.

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[Anonymous Coward]

and one other item, if the bleeding hearts out there thinks it morally unjust to deport people, then have a sponsorship program where they are responsible for their well being legally. Put skin the game, let them live in their house and support them without taxpayer funds. If they commit a crime they are legally responsible, if they get sick they have to ensure they have health insurance . It's all fun and games until they have to use their monies, time and resources. I'll beat that they would use some sort of venting process to ensure they have marketable skills and are not just lay about. Why the hell we can't do that as a country is beyond me. Mark my words give it another 5-10 years when these fools enter the workforce and are offended by everything, lazy, throw fits when they don't get their way and are not productive well see how corporate america view them.

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[ImprovOmega]

Number 1 and 2 make sense and could reasonably be done.

Number 3 we already do, number 4 would require the Supreme Court overturning its precedent and/or a constitutional amendment (for the school part). Immigrants already do not qualify for most social services such as welfare, in-state tuition, cash aid, housing subsidies, medical (state or federal) etc. They do typically qualify for SNAP (food stamps, for maybe a couple hundred a month) and emergency room visits. This is largely because ERs CANNOT stop and ask for citizenship and/or insurance information when life and death are on the line, for reasons which should be obvious. Food stamps is just a humanitarian thing. People should not starve in this country.

Number 5 seems to be in progress with this administration. Number 6 though...that's not just a Supreme Court case, that's an absolute requirement for a constitutional amendment. The language of the 14th amendment is abundantly clear and really not open to much interpretation. Born in U.S. or U.S. Territory = U.S. citizen. They did not leave exemptions for people born of non-citizen parents and you can't legislate that away.

Re:Law enforcement tracks law breakers

[bobbied]

Hmmm... I did some investigation on this...

The 14th amendment has been interpreted as 'birth right citizenship" for the most part but this is not universally agreed too. There is one test case for LEGAL immigrants, which confers citizenship to their children born here and that I fully accept as fine. There has been no interpretation for ILLEGAL immigrant's children born here. I suggest we test that in the courts by passing a law that says only persons who are children of parents who are LEGALLY here are given citizenship and let the courts sort out if the 14th amendment really says that. I think it's conceivable that the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" means LEGALLY residing within the USA.

Also, I knew #4 would require a Supreme Court decision for public schools though High School. However, College level education would not. Some states already treat illegals as non-residents for tuition and admission purposes.

Finally, ER visits are not PUBLIC assistance but a cost of doing business as an ER. If you are an ER, you accept everyone who enters the front door, provide any emergency medical care required, regardless of who they are. What I'm saying is NO public assistance from taxpayer funds for illegal immigrants. If you present yourself to the welfare office looking for assistance, but fail the E-Verify check, you get no public assistance beyond conveyance to their country of origin (so you can ask to be deported ONCE and we will send you home). Private charities or organizations are allowed to help, but must clearly use private funding sources to do so.

But you understand that this is designed to get illegals to self deport by making it hard for them to work and live here. My hope is that if they cannot work and support themselves as illegals, they will go home, get temporary work permits and come back legally, at which point, I'm fine with them being here.

wow

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone really has it in for facebook

Re:wow

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone really has it in for facebook

Sort of like how the Israelis "had it in" for people who worked as staff at concentration camps ?

Facebook has been caught taking data which they should not be taking, such as logs of all phone calls and logs of all text messages.

Facebook is a bad actor, and Facebook is going to pretend it wants to "atone", but anyone with a reasonable level of intelligence and the ability to think critically never trusted Facebook in the first place, and Facebook should never be trusted again.

Let's put it this way : would you trust someone after you caught them photocopying your diary without permission ? I would expect you wouldn't. Since Facebook has pretty much done the same thing, only a fool would ever consider Facebook worthy of trust from this juncture onward.

Re:wow

[Anonymous Coward]

FB has done nothing illegal. Everything they have been of accused of doing was agreed to in the EULA. A contract is a contract.

First semester law school here.

Re:wow

[BlueStrat]

Sort of like how the Israelis "had it in" for people who worked as staff at concentration camps ?

None of the people in media and government had any real problem with what FB did while Democrats used FB data the same exact way until it came out that the Trump campaign might have benefited from FB data.

Now, suddenly, it's torches, pitchforks, and Nazi references.

The hypocrisy would be hilariously funny if it was not so frighteningly fascist.

Strat

Re: wow

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL.

Know how I know you're not an attorney???

Re:wow

[Anonymous Coward]

FB has done nothing illegal.

Remains to be seen.

Everything they have been of accused of doing was agreed to in the EULA. A contract is a contract.

Except when it isn't.

First semester law school here.

Where you will learn about all the fun and myriad ways that contracts and their clauses can be void and legally unenforceable.

Re: wow

[Anonymous Coward]

When you do spying for a country's government, everything you do is legal. Because the government decides what is legal and what is not in its country. Therefore Google, Facebook and Microsoft and Amazon do all these things legally.

Re:wow

[Anonymous Coward]

>The media and government might well have had a problem if the Democrats had done the same thing.
Government, maybe, but it is laughable that you believe this about the media.

Re:wow

[knorthern knight]

> The media and government might well have had a problem if the
> Democrats had done the same thing. But they didn't, so they didn't.

Carol Davidsen, Obama's digital campaign manager for 2012 disagrees with you. She spoke about this at a TED TALK in 2015. The interesting part begins at 19 minutes into the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

In her own words...
===
but we were actually able to ingest the entire social network, social network of the US that's on Facebook, which is most people. Where this gets complicated is... that freaked Facebook out... right? So they cut off the feature. Well the Republicans never built an app to do that. So the data is out there. You can't take it back... right? The Democrats have this information, so when they look at a voter file ansd someone comes to them, they can immediately be like "Oh, here are all the other people they know. And here are people they can help us persuade, because they're really good friends with this person".

The Republicans do not have that information and will not get that information... right? I'm a democrat, so maybe I could argue that's a great thing. But really, it's not, in the overall process...right? Like that wasn't thought all the way through and now there's a disadvantage of information that to me seems unfair. But I'm not Facebook, so this is the reality.
===

Re:wow

[Anonymous Coward]

The media and government might well have had a problem if the Democrats had done the same thing. But they didn't, so they didn't.

You are a liar.

Re: wow

[Type44Q]

And Ollie North never saw jail.

Things are more complicated than you perceive them.

Re:wow

[Anonymous Coward]

That video is a lie. It's a deep-fake perpetrated by the fascist conservatives.. She never said any of that. None of what the video claims is true. It never happened. YT should take down that fake-news propaganda.

Re: wow

[Anonymous Coward]

Because he said "first semester law school here" ...?

Know how I know you're an idiot with no reading comprehension?

Any means possible

[nwaack]

Good. They should use any means possible to find these law breakers. Why the hell should we have to put up with this rampant illegal immigration? Canada has even stricter immigration laws but no one says boo about that.

Re: Any means possible

[Anonymous Coward]

On top of that. The morons whining about cracking down on illegal immigration themselves think they can just up and move to Canada because El Trumpo won.

Re:Any means possible

[RightwingNutjob]

But Justin Trudeau is so dreamy...[girlish giggle]...

Re: Any means possible

[Anonymous Coward]

That dude has had more cock in his ass than Stormy Daniels

Re:Any means possible

[edtice1559]

And Australia even more strict that that. More to the point, though, using Facebook for "round ups" is something we could probably debate. But when ICE is looking for a *particular* person, it's almost always the case that said individual has committed some sort of crime above and beyond any immigration status issue. At that point, they're just another fugitive.

Re:Any means possible

[Obfuscant]

More to the point, though, using Facebook for "round ups" is something we could probably debate.

If they had actually used Facebook, we should. They didn't, any more than they used "social media". They got logs from a computer service, which could have been the web, or twitter, or ftp, SMTP, IMAP, or anything else. The fact that it was Facebook is irrelevant to the discussion.

"Used social media" means they actually did something ON Facebook, like looked at friend's lists or timeline postings or such stuff. "Using twitter" means they look at the content and get information from that. They didn't do that. This isn't "using social media" at all.

Re:Any means possible

[jwhyche]

Yup, labeled a troll. Typical way SJW, aka snowflakes, deal with speech they don't agree with. They would rather silence you than debate you on the merits of their beliefs.

Re:Any means possible

[jwhyche]

Damn, I love it when they prove my point for me.

If you visit my website

[RightwingNutjob]

I can also track down where you're sitting because IP address shows up in the server log each and every time you visit my site, regardless of whether you log on or not. That's how the internet works. Doesn't matter if you're using SSL or plain old HTTP. If you're not going over a proxy, I know where you are. And if you are using a proxy...you better hope it's trustworthy. Tor sort of works too, but nothing is fool-proof when you've got a fucking wire going to your house that you pay for under your own name or a phone issued to you by the guys who run the cell towers that you pay under your own name.

Same deal for AC's posting on slashdot. Same deal with me: obviously 'RightwingNutjob' isn't my real name but if someone wanted to, they could figure out where I am and make a pretty good guess at who I am. That's why I don't post shit I wouldn't want my mother to see on here, or anywhere.

Re:If you visit my website

[Anonymous Coward]

"..if someone wanted to, they could figure out where I am and make a pretty good guess at who I am. That's why I don't post shit I wouldn't want my mother to see on here, or anywhere.'

I'm sorry you don't want your mother to know where you are. I thought my family problems were bad.

Re: If you visit my website

[Anonymous Coward]

The fact that you just associated a logical address with a physical one is laughable.

That you claim to understand all those acronyms you used and not address how an IP has repeatedly been thrown out as a user binder is even more laughable.

GeoIP isn't foolproof or even always right. IP don't locate a physical space or address.

Re: If you visit my website

[RightwingNutjob]

I never said it's foolproof for the one doing the tracking. I did say that you're a fool if you think you can stay perfectly anonymous by spitting bits down a wire you pay for under your own name.

Re: If you visit my website

[Anonymous Coward]

Clean machine you paid cash for.
Public Wi-Fi from the edge so you're not on camera inside.
Validate no outside cameras. Coffee houses on the edges of neighborhoods are excellent.
Even better is in an urban area with a vagrant issue.

Squat yourself in an alley looking homeless. Pop on pub WiFi with cash paid device with a good OS. Fuck about all you want.
Pick new open Wi-Fi spot the next time.
Don't have your ID or any other wireless device on you.
Don't drive anything you own there.
Take public transit with cash card. Do multiple hops. /done.

Re: If you visit my website

[RightwingNutjob]

Is that what you did right there, AC? Or are you sitting in a nice comfy chair in the living room of a house with your name on the deed?

Re: If you visit my website

[Anonymous Coward]

PIA VPN service don't keep logs and have been subpoenaed by the FBI in a bomb-threat case and had nothing to give them.
That meets even your ridiculous criteria of using a wire you pay for in your own name and is trivial to use.

The thing is that anyone who wants to be anonymous and isn't an idiot will start by not using something tied to their name, so your qualifier makes your statement something like 'if you don't care about being anonymous then I can sometimes locate roughly where you're connecting from'. That's a pretty low bar.

In investigations where an IP address has been used, it's a small part of a lot of other data and usually not terribly relevant. It's too imprecise, too easily spoofed, too easy to deny. IP-to-physical-location is weak and unreliable. Anyone can feed an IP address into a field to get an owner. Knowing the value of the answer you get back is rarer.

Re: If you visit my website

[Anonymous Coward]

Why the fuck would I obfuscate my origin for comments on this site? I don't have / login because I don't want one. Not because I'm trying to hide my origin.

Re: If you visit my website

[AHuxley]

AC don't forget to always change the MAC address too.
Everything is collected under public/private partnerships from most coffee houses.
Their CCTV goes to the state and federal police via "contractors" who support all the networked CCTV in the area for the city/state.
Facial recognition fills in the rest.
The public private partnership allows a cafe to say the police are not looking.
The police can also say they are not looking.
By using private collection the police get every face and voice print. The cafe gets to help reduce local crime.

Re: If you visit my website

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm guessing you are not in America?

Re: If you visit my website

[AHuxley]

AC recall the US Domain Awareness System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

WENDY! I'M HOME!

[Anonymous Coward]

HHHHHHHHHHHeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's JOHNNY!

Sorry.. well not sorry.. immigrant vs. Undocumente

[Anonymous Coward]

As an immigrant, which as followed the rules and laws that this country has established for legal migration, am somewhat perplexed of those that are poo pooing....

If you are breaking any laws, our law enforcement agency has every right to investigate if laws were broken...

No crying here... if you are here illegally, STFU and get back of the line...

ICE = WMD

[Anonymous Coward]

Weapon of Mass Deportation.
This country has THRIVED on immigrants. Treating them like gabage because of a few bad actors is bullshit.

Re:ICE = WMD

[Anonymous Coward]

Totally true. The U.S. is just two steps away from being Myanmar, and treating our immigrants like the Rohingya.

Re:ICE = WMD

[Z80a]

Legal immigrants.

We continue to treat immigrants well

[SuperKendall]

Most people support immigrants anywhere I've been in the U.S.

Just as most people I've seen do not support ILLEGAL ALIENS. They are not immigrants; they are criminals, who have screwed over REAL immigrants that have been trying to come here legally but we don't allow very many because we already have so many people here illegally.

Why should criminals be treated with any respect whatsoever? They are taking the place of immigrants.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[Anonymous Coward]

You smelly racist. They're DREAMERS!!!!!!11111oneoneone

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget to tell him he's WORSE THAN HITLER!!!!!!

That always seems to get worked in there sooner or later.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[fonos]

Plenty of undocumented immigrants aren't criminals. Immigration violations are mostly civil offenses.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[Anonymous Coward]

As a legal immigrant to the U.S. it infuriates me when people use "immigrants" when they mean illegal immigrants. ICE has never bothered me, and they are not interested in my Facebook profile.

I think each and every person in the US who states that illegal immigrants are okay to remain, should first sign a declaration that they will not attempt to evict, or call the police on any homeless person who decides to barge into their house or property and then take up residence there.

The "sanctuary cities" in California have the worst cases of NIMBYism and land use restrictions to benefit those who are already there because they want to preserve the character of their neighborhoods.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[Anonymous Coward]

Cause they cook good and clean cheap.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[AHuxley]

Entering a nation without been allowed to enter that nation is illegal.
Normal people have documents and line up outside an embassy.
They enter anther nation legal and work, study.
Normal people ask another nation if they can move in and stay.
Nations then look over that persons documents and grant that request.
The person is then legal in another nation.
Just wondering in and taking gov support services, jobs, using fake documents, using education, health care is illegal.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[Obfuscant]

Immigration violations are mostly civil offenses.

You are wrong. 8 U.S. Code Section 1325 "Improper entry by alien" makes it a criminal offense. Where did you get the idea that it wasn't a crime?

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[Anonymous Coward]

This kind of head-up-ass thinking is rampant with the leftists and the twitterbating / faceturbating millenial outrage machines that scream and cry and don't think. only feel.
it's a shit kind of place to have recently brought a kid into, terrifies me a bit for their sake.
They might be crucified for being rational and approaching subjects with nuance and trying to have courteous civil discourse.
Nazi's they'll be called, fascists! it is a truly troubling time.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[Anonymous Coward]

Not all illegal immigrants entered the country illegally. Visa overstay is not a criminal offense. On the other hand, George W's DUI was criminal. There's nothing wrong with deporting illegals, but blaming this nations problem on them is just like blaming the Jew, Irish, Chinese, etc. Let's not forget that Reagan gave amnesty to illegal immigrants in 1986. Why didn't he kick them all out?

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[Anonymous Coward]

This country had open borders for the longest time. Then we started banning the Chinese, idiots, disabled, and lunatics in 1882. Over the next 100 years the immigration laws constantly changed and amnesty happened a few times. My point is that immigration laws evolve over time. Illegals of yesterday might become legal today (Reagan 1986).

What never changes is that old immigrants bully and blame new immigrants. This is true in all countries, time and time again, except when the new immigrants are far more superior militarily.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[dwillden]

Of course the laws changed. We no longer have an empty (sorry natives) Continent to fill. Open borders is no longer in our interest. We are not opposed to new immigrants. They are welcomed with open arms. If they come here legally.

Why can you not separate the fact the immigrant and illegal immigrant are two completely different things. Immigrants are welcomed. Illegals are not. Follow the rules needed now that we don't have vast stretches of untamed wilderness to settle, and you will be welcomed.

Jump the border or overstay your visa and it's another matter entirely.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[AmiMoJo]

Immigration has become a lot like the war on drugs. Rather than fight it so hard, it would be better to offer more legal options and provide more support for immigrants and communities with a lot of immigration.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[Anonymous Coward]

People in the country illegally are criminals by definition.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[nagora]

It is, of course, more complex than that. I don't know about the US but in the Africa->Europe flow many of the the immigrants have been lied to by the trafficers. So, Sipo starts off in a shithole country south of the Sahara with no prospects except that at least he'll die young. Pavel turns up in the village, or one of his agents does, and says that he can arrange for Sipo to get a legal work permit for the EU. There's even a promise of some work. Sipo is dubious but Pavel's guy has testimonies and sample documents and all the rest of it.

Of course, it's expensive but for roughly the whole of Sipo's savings +30%, Pavel's team will sort it all out and the final details will be handled at Tripoli before boarding the boat when Sipo hands over the extra 30%. He'll have a few months to scrounge around his relatives and friends to raise the extra cash, but he'll be able to pay them back once he starts his new job.

Sipo arrives in Tripoli and is lucky - the slave market is closed today. So he gets to go down to the dock were he sees the boat for the first time. It is built for 12, and is "booked" for 40. Sipo says that he's changed his mind and instead of paying the rest of the cash he wants his original money back so he can go home.

That's when the guns appear. Pavel informs Sipo that this is a binding contract, to shut the fuck up, hand over the money and get in the goddamned boat.

Sipo gets in the boat.

But Sipo is a very lucky guy and the boat makes it almost the whole way across the Mediterranean and sinks within sight of shore, so he manages to make it to land. There he meets another of Pavel's agents who tells him where the van is to take Sipo to his new job.

The job is not legal and at the end of the first day, Sipo is informed that he is now a criminal for engaging in work without a permit. When Sipo says that he paid for a permit, the overseer laughs and asks to see the receipt. Even if he ever had one, it probably went down with the boat.

Being a criminal means that, according to the gang master, Sipo can't go to the police. Also, he owes the gang for his share of the boat he lost, which turns out to be a very very expensive boat indeed. Sipo is very unhappy about this. That's when the guns appear again.

Sipo goes back to the illegally overcrowded house that he and the other survivors are going to share and wonders how long it will be before he can see his family again.

---

This isn't at all unusual a story and technically, Sipo maybe is a criminal or at least doing something criminal. But he never intended to do anything illegal. Some immigrants *do* certainly know they'r breaking the law but a lot more are really victims of blackmail of one kind or another.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[fred911]

Wrong. If they work, they're felons. If they entered without permission, they're felons. If they let their visa expire and did nothing about it, felons.

Even if they're just trying to survive.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, let's bring up something a president did years before his presidency, and decades ago. That is completely relevant to the discussion today. *slow clap*

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[Anonymous Coward]

Reagan didn't kick them out because the US was trying to deal with the issue in a reasonable, compassion way. Also, when Reagan gave amnesty to 2 million illegal aliens, we were told at the time "and now the US has solved the immigration issue, and we will NEVER have give people amnesty again!". Here we are 30 years later being told we MUST give amnesty to another 15 million illegal aliens...but hey, once we do this, we'll NEVER have to do this again, right?

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[Obfuscant]

Not all illegal immigrants entered the country illegally. Visa overstay is not a criminal offense.

By definition, illegal immigrants are here illegally. Yes, VISA overstay is a criminal offense. I provided a link to the section of the law. You should ready it before leaping to the defense of illegal aliens. (Hint: "obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact".)

There's nothing wrong with deporting illegals, but blaming this nations problem on them

I don't see where I ascribed blame for problems to anyone. I pointed out that the claim that it was a civil offense was patent stupidity.

Let's not forget that Reagan gave amnesty to illegal immigrants

Yeah, he wasn't perfect. Not my fault.

Re:We continue to treat immigrants well

[reboot246]

It's also illegal to hire them, harbor them, and in any way aid their illegal entry. But the Dims keep trying anyway.

They took a break from spying on US Citizens...

[Anonymous Coward]

They took a break from spying on US Citizens who were committing a crime to to spy on Mexican Citizens who were.
OUTRAGE!

Appears to be legal

[VikingNation]

The article discusses that the government agency in question obtains legal approval and that is provided to the company to obtain information. It would appear legal requirements are met.

So they ARE DOCUMENTED

[Anonymous Coward]

Now they can be deported.

Good

[Anonymous Coward]

Glad to see ICE is earning their money.

It's about time!

[p51d007]

I don't care what color you are, what religion you are, what sex you are. Just a couple things. 1. Come here LEGALLY 2. Learn ENGLISH 3. Live within the laws of THIS country 4. Get a job and don't mooch off the government (same should go to those able to work that are born here) Other than that, I don't give a flip what you do, in the privacy of your own home... If you came to this country ILLEGALLY, even as a small child, go back to your home of origin, apply to come here legally. The so called "dreamers" included. Why is it the USA has to be the "dumping ground" for the world? Other nations have strict immigration laws, but the USA, England, Europe are suppose to allow pretty much anyone to come to their countries. It's just another attempt to break down the nation states, to create a "one world order" BS.

Re:It's about time!

[Anonymous Coward]

Literally not what was said;

https://slashdot.org/~p51d007 statement;

I don't care what color you are, what religion you are, what sex you are. Just a couple things. 1. Come here LEGALLY 2. Learn ENGLISH 3. Live within the laws of THIS country 4. Get a job and don't mooch off the government

---vs.---

Your Response;

Africa for Africans
Asia for Asians
Israel for Jews
White countries for EVERYONE!!

If only the Nazis had Facebook

[lucasnate1]

Facebook would comply, just like IBM did, because corporates have no morals, only greed.

Good. Fuck the illegals.

[Anonymous Coward]

Good. Fuck the illegals.

Well aren't we special !

[swell]

We were smart enough to be born in the US. We chose educated parents with a privileged lifestyle and disposable income. Take a moment right now to pat yourself on the back for your well deserved advantages. Why should we be concerned about some fool who chose to be born in a dirt-poor family of seven far from 'civilized' life? Why should a billion refugees concern us? Why should we care that no education is available to those people, no paying work available and no hope for the future?

If by some odd accident of fate, we had been born under those circumstances, we would just sit down and take our slow death without any fuss, right? We would never consider risking everything to seek greener pastures.

Re:Well aren't we special !

[Anonymous Coward]

Why should we care that no education is available to those people, no paying work available and no hope for the future?

If by some odd accident of fate, we had been born under those circumstances, we would just sit down and take our slow death without any fuss, right? We would never consider risking everything to seek greener pastures.

I see you've never left the United States. Your view of the rest of the world as an economic and educational cesspool is almost as disrespectful as your callous disregard to fellow citizens that were born here without "privileged lifestyle and disposable income".

Re:Well aren't we special !

[Anonymous Coward]

Who's "we" buddy? I'm a descendant of immigrants from a dirt-poor family that was part of a despised minority. They became citizens legally.

BiasedHD

[Anonymous Coward]

Could you really make this anymore biased than you already have? This headline/summary reads like an article off CNN, lumping everyone into a single "good" category. Might as well word this as "ICE uses Facebook to track people"

Dream On

[SuperKendall]

Public Wi-Fi from the edge so you're not on camera inside.

Right, then you are only on about fifteen cameras OUTSIDE...

And broadcasting an easily triangulated signal so the people reviewing the video feeds know exactly where to look.

Take public transit with cash card. Do multiple hops. /done.

Tracking gonna get you bro. That is if you are not murdered first while hanging out in an alley with some expensive electronic kit.

Re: Dream On

[Anonymous Coward]

I like how you skipped the part where I talked about the outside camera bit.

There are about 12 different coffee shops in my area that don't have cameras outside anywhere but the doors leading in/out.

Despite that being exactly how...

[Anonymous Coward]

America's european 'colonists' came over here in the first place, as well as the second through fifth waves from the 19th through the 20th centuries.

Americans are shortsighted hypocrits with no understanding of their own history, let along anyone elses.

I personally agree on the deporting illegals, but you know who seems to be hiring them predominantly? The 'small business' republicans, because they can shaft them on wages and expect them not to file a labor dispute. And basically every R I know who runs a small business does exactly that, including the foreign born ones.

Dems 'supporting' illegals was in response to that much like the prior generation of labor disputes that resulted in unions between the 19ths and 20th centuries, and soon enough with H1Bs today. The real problem is the corrupt that keeps being tacitly endorsed by the people in power, even as they rail and legislate against the symptoms of a far deeper sickness in American society.

Gas chambers.

[Anonymous Coward]

The time has come to build large gas chambers.
Very large ones.

Why?

[xenobyte]

Why would they want to track immigrants? - Perhaps they're only interested in ILLEGAL immigrants? - That would make sense.

You missed the word "ILLEGAL"...

[Anonymous Coward]

ILLEGAL immigrants. They aren't trying to "round up" LEGAL immigrants, are they...

Oh, the poor illegal immigrants - otherwise known as 'invaders'. I supposed the Germans were 'immigrants' when they occupied France?

Soon there won't be enough white people to go around for all the poor, hard done by third worlders, who apparently need to live around white people to have 'a better life'... LOL.

Good.

[sproketboy]

Boot the fuckers out.

Re:Good.

[Type44Q]

I think whoever disingenuously typed "immigrants" instead of "illegal immigrants" should be deported (I believe that's you, Beau).

Immigrants don't have any more to fear than the rest of us (though that might not be saying all that much).

Re: Good.

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess i wont get deported i never use it its not safe

Good.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think all Facebook users should be deported.
Get rid of those useless telephone sanitizers.

Good for them.

[Anonymous Coward]

If an illegal alien is stupid enough to advertise his presence and location on Facebook, it is great that the government takes advantage of that just as they would any other clue. ICE is not enforcing "Trump's mass deportation program", by the way. They are enforcing the duly considered, discussed, and enacted immigration laws that Congress has voted into law. All ICE (and President Trump) are doing is enforcing our laws, and I support them.

Reagan amnesty

[Anonymous Coward]

Reagan's amnesty was a negotiated quid-pro-quo for a complete reform of the immigration system, on which the Democrat-controlled House failed to honor the deal and never sent the bill to his desk to become law.

Where are the protesters?

[Anonymous Coward]

If a police department sends info to ICE, they'll come under attack from the AntiFas.

Why does Facebook get a free pass? Why aren't liberals protesting Facebook's fascist tendencies?

Tough but fair...

[Anonymous Coward]

This seems fair, to me. If you telegraph your law breaking all over the Internet, of course the police might be taking a look.

OMG Trump

[dcw3]

"ICE, the federal agency tasked with Trump's program of mass deportation"

Hate to ruin your agenda, but...
https://www.politico.com/story...