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Prank Calls Brought ICE Hotline To a Standstill, Internal Emails Show (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: When ICE launched an immigration crime hotline last year, the Trump administration pitched it as a way to provide resources to victims, but activists saw something else: an attack on the immigrant community. The hotline was part of the Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office, an outfit established in February 2017. When the office first launched a line for its services the following April, protestors flooded the hotline to call in pranks and slow down response times. The plan picked up even more steam as the protestors shared the hotline number online, encouraging others to call in with fake tips.

According to internal emails and documents obtained by The Verge under the Freedom of Information Act, prank calls fully upended the system, leaving operators unable to answer more than 98 percent of incoming calls during the protest as the media relations team attempted to contain the narrative. In reports and emails produced in the first days of operation, ICE officials described an "overwhelming" amount of calls. The day after the launch, the office received more than 16,400. Of those, only a little more than 2,100 were placed into a queue, and only 260 answered. Callers in the queue waited as long as 79 minutes to reach an operator. An official noted that, should the rate of calls continue, they would need an additional 400 operators to field the hotline.

1 of 457 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I don't get it... by DarkOx · · Score: 3, Funny

    They don't under international law refuges lose their status as soon as they set foot in a nation where they are safe from whatever specific force they are fleeing.

    Unless you want to conceede Mexico is a failed state that cannot be accountable for protecting citizens there; than no non-mexican having passed thru Mexico can arrive at our southern boarder as a legitimate asylum seeker.

    They are therefore simply illegal immigrants. When they are organized even minimally, as they are in this caravan they become invaders! Mexico allowing an invasion force to proceed thru its territory on the way to our boarder is an act of war and it should be treated like it!

    --
    Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html