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Chapter 1. Introduction
Situation
Endgame is the
immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Detention and Removal
(DRO) multi-year strategic enforcement plan. It is part of a broader planning cycle that, when fully
implemented, will integrate strategic and operational planning with the budget
building process and performance measurement. Endgame articulates the DRO mission and vision
statement, and will guide the development and execution of DRO
Endgame is
part of a broader planning cycle that, when fully implemented, will integrate
strategic and operational planning with the budget building process and
performance measurement.
Enforcement Challenge
Recent events and political initiatives have emphasized the
significance of DRO’s mission and the critical need to restore some certainly
to the removal of aliens found to be removable. DRO will meet the challenge of this defining
moment in our nation’s history, clearly demonstrating our critical role in
immigration enforcement and our nation’s domestic security. This plan will guide our efforts in
developing operational plans and resource requirements to achieve our national
immigration law enforcement policy aims.
Through cooperative relationships and external stakeholders, we will
fulfill the demands of the President, the Congress and the American
people. Building these
partnerships is fundamental to the success of this plan and DRO’s mission and
will result in improvements that maximize efficiencies within the immigration
enforcement process.
Our mission is critical to the immigration enforcement process and
provides the final link in securing America’s borders. Our plans, operations and resource
requests will be fully integrated with all other immigration enforcement programs
and initiatives. Initiatives
to improve border security and
protect the interior of the United States through an increase in personnel and
enhanced information technology, as well as the establishment of the DHS, will
require significant increases in detention and removal operations and resources. Our management and staff will use this
plan as a reference tool to develop operations what will be properly and fully
aligned with all immigration enforcement operations. We will follow this plan to ensure that we manage and
maintain an effective detention and removal program, and that we continue to
execute our part in the overall immigration enforcement process.
On March 1, 2003, DRO officially became part of the Bureau of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the directorate of Border and Transportation
Security (BTS) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This transition brings with it new
partners, stakeholders and challenges yet, we must remain diligent in our
efforts to provide the entire DRO program with the appropriate tools and
resources required to accomplish our mission and daily assignments. Through this team and our inter-agency
and internal partnerships, we will succeed in meeting our national policy
mandates.
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Office of Detention and Removal
Strategic Framework
The Director for Detention and Removal, in conjunction with his staff,
has developed a vision statement to guide the efforts of the program for the
next ten years. This ten-year
vision is focused on the development of the infrastructure, resources,
personnel and leadership necessary to develop, maintain and sustain a program
that will accomplish its mission efficiently and effectively throughout the
next ten years, and beyond.
U. S. immigration policy remains fluid to reflect the ever-changing
global and political environment; however, this ten-year vision will transcend
these changes, as it is founded in a mission that reflects the core business of
the Detention and Removal program.
The DRO mission is the cornerstone of this vision and this plan. Over the next ten years, Endgame will lay the
groundwork for developing the capacity and capability to remove all removable
aliens. The principles of that
foundation are implicit in three overarching strategic themes:
·
Build partnerships with critical stakeholders.
·
Develop a professional workforce and the infrastructure
to retain it.
·
Employ information systems and technology.
These three themes influence objectives and strategies across five goal
areas. These five goal areas will
guide DRO operations and efforts and support ICE strategic goals. The relationships between DRO goals and
those of ICE and the National Strategy for Homeland Security are depicted in
the graphic on the following page and described in more detain in Chapter 3.
DRO VISION
Within
ten years the Detention and Removal Program will be able to fully meet all of
our commitments and mandates from the President, Congress and the American
people.
To make this happen, the
following will be required.
· Visionary
leadership, at all levels of the organization
· An effectively
trained and educated professional workforce
· The right levels
of the right resources such as personnel, facilities, and support
infrastructure
· Effective,
responsive, and accurate command, control, communication, computers and
intelligence (C41) systems that truly support our enforcement
requirements and improve the way we do business
· Thoughtful and
thorough planning, and effective operational execution
When implemented to its fullest, this plan will serve as the platform
from which strategies will be initiated, partnerships will be built, and
innovation for continued process improvement will be fostered. This vision will be realized, and the
mission will be accomplished, only through the collective and collaborative
efforts of all DRO employee. DRO
employees (including officer, management, and staff) must encourage growth and
improvement through the sharing of ideas and the integration of DRO core
business functions with key processes, all critical elements of the
immigration enforcement program.
Stakeholders
In response to national policy, DRO provides the necessary public
service of removing unauthorized aliens from the United States DRO is committed
to providing this service in a professional, effective and efficient manner
while addressing the rights, needs and interests of all its various stakeholders. DRO’s primary stake holders have been
identified and grouped, as depicted on the follow page:
It is only
through our combined efforts that we will create the consequences for and
deterrence of illegal immigration.
DRO’s primary internal customers are the other enforcement arms within
the Department’s Directorate of Border and Transportation Security that
includes investigators and intelligence analysts within ICE and inspectors and
border patrol agents within the Bureau of Customs and Border Enforcement
(CBP). Other DHS customers include
the Law Enforcement Support Center (LESC), the Office of International Affairs,
and the Bureau of Customs and Immigration Services (CIS). Through cooperative and concerted
efforts, all aspects of the immigration enforcement process will be completed
thoroughly and expeditiously. It
is only through our combined efforts that we will create consequences for and
deterrence to illegal immigration.
DRO’s service and enforcement partners work diligently to identify,
locate, apprehend, process, and remove aliens who
violate this nation’s immigration laws.
While inspectors and border patrol agents can remove aliens
directly at ports of entry via expedited removal, voluntary
return or other methods, that is not a core function of their mission. “Removing all removable aliens” is, in
fact, DRO’s mission. All of the
activity needed to carry out that mission is the service we provide our
partners. Illegal aliens,
unaccompanied juveniles, asylum seekers, refugees, and countless other
apprehended aliens cannot all be immediately removed from the country, nor can
they all be released into the American community. For that reason, DRO resources and expertise are required to
transport these aliens from point to point, to manage them in custody while
their cases are being processed and, finally, to remove them from the country
when order to do so. The effects
of other programs’ enforcement efforts are diminished and their operation are
constrained if DRO cannot execute its mission efficiently and effectively. Therefore, DRO must immerse itself
within the immigration enforcement element of DHS and establish a significant
and collaborative presence with its service and enforcement partners and
stakeholders.
The
effects of other programs’ enforcement efforts are diminished and their
operations are constrained if DRO cannot execute it’s mission efficiently and
effectively.
DRO must
maintain cooperative relationships with each one of its stakeholders to ensure
that enforcement operations are conducted as efficiently and professionally as
possible and that all stakeholders’ legitimate interests are addressed. DRO and the private sector rely on each
other for the services each demands and has to offer. While the private sector relies on DRO to provide national
and international transportation, or to house and feed detainees, DRO relies on
those same services to execute its mission when they are not available through
normal government channels. DRO
must also maintain similar cooperative relationships with foreign governments
in order to realize and effect removal.
Strong partnerships and cooperative coordination between DRO, the DHS
Office of International Affairs, the Department of State (DOS), foreign
governments, and the alien will facilitate a smoother and trouble-free transfer
from the United States to the alien’s home of record.
While the alien
will not necessarily perceive any “benefit” from DRO services, he will be
provided with safe and secure confinement in detention facilities, as well as
transportation from ports and points along the border to other detention
facilities or his country of origin.
These services will be provided in a professional manner; the alien will
be detained in safe, secure and humane environments; he will be transported
safely; and his movement will be fully coordinated with his family, legal
representative, and country of origin, whenever appropriate. For these reasons, the alien is as
important a stakeholder as any of the others mentioned.
This strategic
plan and the vision statement have been developed in consideration of the
concerns of each of our stakeholders.
It is difficult to prioritize DRO efforts to satisfy one stakeholders
needs over that of another; yet the need to satisfy the American constituency,
protect their freedoms and secure their safety remains the overarching and
desired outcome.
Endgame supports national, DHS, and
ICE-wide policy and initiatives, while satisfying the inherent needs of both
its internal and external stakeholders.
Plan Development
On August 3,
1993 the President signed into law the Government Performance and Results Act
(GPRA). Simply stated, the law
implements a strategic planning and performance-measuring process to hold
government agencies accountable to the American people for the money they
spend. To that end, the law
requires government agencies to develop strategic plans with measurable program
goals, and to report annually to Congress and the American public on their
progress. The Office of Detention
and Removal now releases its supporting strategic plan, Endgame, covering the
time frame 2003-2012. The plan
supports national, DHS, and ICE-wide policy and initiatives, while satisfying
the inherent needs of both its internal and external stakeholders.
The DRO
strategic plan and planning process is the culmination of a nine-month
collaborative effort of the Strategic Plan Working Group (SPWG). The SPWG, consisting of 23 individuals
from HQDRO, the field, and other HQ staff elements, was chartered in September
2001. The group’s immediate task
was to develop performance measures to be incorporated into the existing suite
of performance indicators for inclusion in the fiscal year 2003 Annual
Performance Plan. Upon completion
of that immediate assignment, the group began a systematic, academic approach
to developing a strategic plan that would serve as the cornerstone for development
of the fiscal year 2004 (and future) budgets. The group developed the mission statement and five goal
areas in which to focus its operational efforts. Through an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats (SWOT), the SPWG identified a set of strategic challenges,
key success factors, and executable objectives and strategies to address
and/or overcome its challenges.
The SPWG resolved that all of its key processes (its routine and
day-to-day activities) could be grouped into two core business functions: 1) removals; and 2) custody
management. In order to justify
the need and significance of each strategy and objective, the group developed a
suite of indicators to measure performance in each goal are throughout the year. Upon release of the plan, the group will transition to a
maintenance mode and will meet quarterly to review the progress of this plan
and update it accordingly.
Plan Structure
Endgame will shape the
future of the DRO organization and will guide the program through the current
sea of change. The strategic plan
is rooted in the overarching vision, mission, and goals that will serve as
constants for the next ten years.
In its four chapters, this plan lays out a set of strategic initiatives
DRO will undertake to accomplish its mission, achieve its goals, overcome its
challenges and satisfy its stakeholders.
The plan does not, however, focus on the implementation of specific
processes in conducting DRO business.
Detailed processes and operations will be addressed in a supporting
five-year business plan from which the budget, the annual performance plan and
the annual implementation plan will be built. These appendices support this strategic plan and will be
updated on a recurring basis.
In its
four chapters, this plan lays out a set of strategic initiatives DRO will
undertake to accomplish its mission, achieve its goals, overcome its
challenges, and satisfy its stakeholders.
Execution
This Strategic
Plan is effective upon release, and will be maintained by SPWG throughout the
year. Review of the plan and its
critical elements will be conducted in conjunction with budget calls, mid-year
reviews, and the development of Annual Performance Plans and Implementation
Plans.
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