Nominee to head ICE wants more drug-arrest power

WASHINGTON — The nominee to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement has picked up support from a key lawmaker for expanding the agency’s authority to investigate drug crimes.

John Morton, on track for confirmation, met with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and made his case for drug-arrest powers for his agents.

Schumer, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee’s immigration, refugees and border security subcommittee, pledged to help Morton.

“It makes no sense for the top agency stationed along the border to lack the power to arrest criminals there,” Schumer said. “The tentacles of the Mexican cartels have reached beyond guns and drugs and into human smuggling, and we have at least three separate agencies, all with different missions, trying to handle enforcement.”

Schumer joins Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., in calling for the additional authority for the immigration agency as the Homeland Security Department makes preventing Mexico’s drug violence a priority.

In an April 22 confirmation hearing for Morton, Lieberman said turf battles have hindered efforts to crack down on border crimes.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a part of the Homeland Security Department, operates under a series of agreements with agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration. Some of those agreements were written before the Homeland Security Department existed or date to the 1970s, Lieberman said.

The Government Accountability Office said in a March report that the outdated agreements and long-standing disputes have led to conflicts and potentially duplicative efforts between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Morton said during his April 22 nomination hearing that his agents should be given full drug arrest powers, known as “Title 21 authority,” which many local and state law enforcement officers have.

“One of the principle responsibilities of the agency is to secure the border and we are facing very sustained organized threats to the United States in terms of trafficking drugs, money, people, guns,” Morton said in the hearing.

“It doesn’t make sense for ICE not to have clear authority to deal with all forms of illegal contraband, particularly in context of border enforcement and enforcement at ports of entry,” he said.

Morton’s nomination was confirmed by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Monday. He also must win confirmation from the Senate Judiciary Committee before his nomination goes to the full Senate.

On the Net:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement: www.ice.gov

Schumer: schumer.senate.gov

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee: hsgac.senate.gov/public/