From INS to ICE: How Immigration Enforcement Has Changed

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Parsing Immigration Policy

Center for Immigration Studies

230 episodes

4 days ago

A weekly discussion of immigration policy matters, both immediate and long-term, with researchers from the Center for Immigration Studies and guests.The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit, research organization. Since our founding in 1985 by Otis Graham Jr., we have pursued a single mission – providing immigration policymakers, the academic community, news media, and concerned citizens with reliable information about the social, economic, environmental, security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United States.

Listen to all episodes of Parsing Immigration Policy at Ricochet.com.

All content for Parsing Immigration Policy is the property of Center for Immigration Studies and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

From INS to ICE: How Immigration Enforcement Has Changed

Parsing Immigration Policy

34 minutes

2 months ago

From INS to ICE: How Immigration Enforcement Has Changed

In the latest episode of the Center for Immigration Studies podcast, Executive Director Mark Krikorian speaks with Scott Mechkowski, retired Deputy Field Office Director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York. With experience at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Mechkowski offers an inside view of how immigration enforcement has changed over time.

From his early days as a deportation officer to leading seven Fugitive Operations Teams targeting dangerous criminal aliens, Mechkowski recounts arrests, post-9/11 operations, and the gradual breakdown of cooperation between ICE and New York City authorities under sanctuary policies. He contrasts the first Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement approach — led by then-ICE Acting Director Tom Homan — with the Biden administration’s politicization of the agency under DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Mechkowski also discusses operational challenges, the role of E-Verify, detention space needs, and the realities behind having arrest targets. His reflections reveal how enforcement priorities, local politics, and national leadership shape ICE’s ability to remove those who should not be in the country.

Host

Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Guest

Scott Mechkowski is a retired Deputy Field Office Director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York

Related

National Immigration Center for Enforcement

Intro Montage

Voices in the opening montage:

Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
Candidate Trump in 2015 campaign speech.
Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".