ICE says it 'welcomes tips from the public' regarding illegal  aliens, will pay tipsters

August 7, 2006

The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is looking for citizens willing to help bust a company for employing undocumented immigrants. They say you could even get paid by the federal government for your effort.

Charged with patrolling the border and enforcing immigration laws, the agency plans to spend $2 million to pay tipsters during the next federal fiscal year, with the goal of infiltrating criminal gangs that smuggle drugs, weapons and people into the country.

The agency says informers provide invaluable help for agents, which makes them an important weapon for immigration enforcement. Details of how the tipster compensation works were not available.

'We always welcome tips from the public, including calls to our hotline (1-866-347-2423),' ICE spokesman Dean Boyd said.

The Department of Homeland Security's total budget for FFY 2007 is $33 billion.  Despite the large budget, Michael Cutler, a senior fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., said “(The Bush administration is) not requesting enough (money) for anything from Congress.”

'Informers are a component of interior enforcement; they're a component of border enforcement as well,' said Cutler, a former Immigration and Naturalization Service agent. 'If you don't have the informers, you're flying blind, and we have an administration and politicians who want to make immigration enforcement as blind and as castrated as possible.'

Congress has already budgeted ICE $2 million a year to pay informers each year since the agencies were established in 2003.

Some say ICE needs more money to help provide a credible threat of prosecution for companies that employ undocumented workers. By contrast, the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Marshals Service have a combined budget of more than $21 million for informers and purchases of evidence.

'The budget (for ICE tips) is very low if you're interested in actually accomplishing your mission,' said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents Border Patrol agents.

Paid informers are used more in drug cases or smuggling cases than in immigration investigations. But officials said they have been involved in some recent immigration busts, including the investigation into IFCO Systems facilities throughout the country in April that led to nearly 1,200 arrests in 26 states, including Arizona.

Court documents filed in that case show agents used an informer who had entered the United States illegally and been caught by the Border Patrol. ICE agents provided him with temporary permission to work legally in the country while he assisted in their investigations.