The national conversation on immigration enforcement has been dominated by contentious actions like border apprehensions and heightened ICE activity, but several initiatives have quietly earned support from both parties. These measures focus on dismantling criminal networks, safeguarding vulnerable migrants, and ensuring legal labor programs aren't abused. Here are four enforcement priorities that transcend partisan lines.
Joint Task Force Alpha: Cracking Down on Smuggling Networks
Transnational human smuggling operations exploit migrants and expose them to extreme danger, according to the Justice Department. From October 2020 to June 2021, DHS rescued over 4,000 migrants abandoned by smugglers near the southwest border, and 250 migrants died during their journeys in 2020. In response, the Biden administration launched Joint Task Force Alpha in June 2021, combining DOJ and DHS resources to prosecute smuggling and trafficking networks from Mexico and Central America's Northern Triangle. The current administration has sustained and expanded the task force to maritime and northern border areas. Since its inception, the task force has secured over 483 arrests, 436 convictions, and significant asset forfeitures.
Protecting Unaccompanied Migrant Children
Most unaccompanied children apprehended at the border are transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which places them with vetted sponsors. During the Biden administration, ORR received over 479,000 referrals, leading to overwhelmed processing and relaxed vetting procedures. A 2021 HHS inspector general report found that in 16% of sampled cases, sponsor safety checks lacked documentation, and 19% of files never received updated FBI or state abuse registry results. Additionally, 35% of sponsor IDs had legibility issues, and 22% of follow-up calls were untimely. The Trump administration has prioritized locating missing children and prosecuting fraudulent sponsorship applications.
Combating Exploitation of Agricultural Workers
The Justice Department recently indicted five individuals for defrauding the H-2A visa program, which allows farmers to hire temporary foreign workers when domestic labor is scarce. The indictment alleges the defendants violated program requirements, demanded pre-application payments, confiscated passports, and threatened violence to prevent workers from leaving. U.S. Attorney Margaret Heap for the Southern District of Georgia affirmed, "We will continue to partner with our federal, state and local agencies to protect these workers, safeguard the integrity of the H-2A program and prosecute those who turn a lawful employment program into a vehicle for profit and abuse." This case highlights bipartisan support for protecting legal labor pathways.
Homeland Security Task Forces: Targeting Criminal Cartels
President Trump's executive order "Protecting the American People Against Invasion" directed DOJ and DHS to establish Homeland Security task forces nationwide. These task forces coordinate with state and local law enforcement to dismantle cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations. Currently, 59 task force offices operate with over 9,000 personnel and 440 state and local partners. While some view this as an enforcement expansion, the focus on violent criminal networks aligns with broader public safety goals.
Critics of the administration's broader immigration policies should not reflexively oppose every enforcement measure. Prosecuting smugglers, shielding unaccompanied minors, and preventing labor exploitation are objectives that can and should unite policymakers across the aisle. As border security debates continue, these targeted efforts demonstrate that common ground exists even in a polarized climate.
Nolan Rappaport, a former executive branch immigration law expert and long-time Board of Immigration Appeals member, contributed this analysis. His experience underscores the importance of distinguishing between harmful policies and those that protect human dignity and public safety.
