‘In a letter to the homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, the 19 agents express concern that Donald Trump’s hardline crackdown on undocumented migrants has made it harder for them to conduct effective investigations into significant national security issues.

The sprawling federal law enforcement agency, which employs more than 20,000 people, is split into two primary divisions: enforcement and removal operations (ERO) focused on deportations, and homeland security investigations (HSI) focused on national security investigations into areas including drugs and arms trafficking.

The 19 investigators, all from the HSI division, wrote that their investigations, “have been perceived as targeting undocumented aliens, instead of the transnational criminal organizations that facilitate cross border crimes impacting our communities and national security”.

…The agents suggest splitting Ice into two separate agencies.’

[theguardian.com]