The Deadly Reality & Human Toll of Trump’s “Immigration Crackdown”
Featuring
John Sandweg
Former Acting ICE Director under President Barack Obama
Immigration enforcement in America has become unrecognizable, and undeniably cruel.
In recent months, an ICE officer shot and killed a construction worker during an enforcement operation in Houston. This week, another man was shot by an ICE agent in Austin, then taken into detention with a bullet still lodged in his back. Children are being torn from their parents, some for a second time. Unaccompanied children, who should be safe at home and in school, are languishing in federal custody for months on end. Thousands of detainees have effectively vanished from ICE's public locator system, leaving families frantic and heartbroken, forced to hire lawyers just to learn where their loved ones are. People are being deported to countries they have never set foot in, and many have no criminal record at all.
Former Acting ICE Director John Sandweg joins us in person for an urgent update to discuss what’s happening in the agency he once led and the devastating result. Few people are better positioned to explain what has changed and where the lines of law, policy, and accountability now stand.
About Our Speaker
John Sandweg is the former Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and former Acting General Counsel of the Department of Homeland Security. He is currently a Partner at Nixon Peabody LLP, where he leads the firm’s Cross-Border Risks team.
As Acting Director of ICE, Sandweg oversaw approximately 20,000 employees across all 50 states and 47 countries, leading the agency’s enforcement of federal immigration, customs, trade, and border security laws. Previously, as DHS Acting General Counsel and Counselor to the Secretary, he advised senior leadership on major legal, policy, and operational matters and helped shape key initiatives involving immigration enforcement, border security, cybersecurity, and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.