Oversight of Immigration Enforcement and Family Reunification

Introduction 

Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Feinstein, and distinguished members of the Committee: 

My name is Matthew T. Albence, and I am the Executive Associate Director of the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss ICE’s role in the Administration’s family reunification efforts, as well as its critical mission of protecting the homeland and ensuring the integrity of our nation’s immigration system through the enforcement of our country’s immigration laws. 

Our nation’s immigration laws are extremely complex, and in many cases, outdated and full of loopholes. This often makes it difficult for people to understand all that ICE does to protect the people of this great country. Nowhere is this more evident than in the recent events surrounding the Zero Tolerance policy. Today, I would like to discuss: the impact that this policy and the Ms. L case have had on ICE operations; the tremendous efforts made and successes achieved by the dedicated men and women of ICE; the progress made and challenges faced by our agency in implementing the family reunification process; and the issue of immigration enforcement as a whole.

More