DrugBuyers.Com: What is ICE that I am now reading about?

The Current definition of ICE is.....

ORGANIZATION

With the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the functions, expertise, resources and jurisdictions of several once-fragmented border and security agencies were merged and reconstituted into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the DHSs largest investigative bureau. The agencies that were either moved entirely or merged in part, based upon law enforcement functions, included the investigative and intelligence resources of the United States Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Federal Protective Service and, as of November 2003, the Federal Air Marshals Service.

ICE is the investigative arm of the Border and Transportation Security Directorate (BTS), the operational directorate within the DHS tasked with securing the nations borders and safeguarding its transportation infrastructure. The largest component within the DHS, BTS employs more than 100,000 men and women. ICE brings together more than 20,000 employees who focus on the enforcement of immigration and customs laws within the United States U.S., the protection of specified Federal buildings, and air and marine enforcement. By unifying previously fragmented investigative functions, ICE will deliver effective and comprehensive enforcement. ICE is led by an Assistant Secretary who reports directly to the Under Secretary for BTS.

ICE is composed of the following operational Divisions:

* Office of Investigations responsible for investigating a range of issues, including human smuggling; narcotics, weapons and all other contraband smuggling; export enforcement, such as investigating illegal arms exports and exports of dual-use equipment that may threaten national security; financial crimes, such as money laundering, commercial fraud, intellectual property rights (including commercial counterfeiting) violations; cybercrime; immigration crime; and human rights violations.

* Office of Detention and Removal responsible for promoting public safety and national security by ensuring the departure from the United States of all removable aliens through the fair enforcement of the nation's immigration laws.

* Office of Air and Marine Operations responsible for protecting the nation's borders and the American people from the smuggling of people, narcotics and other contraband. Also responsible for detecting and deterring terrorist activity with an integrated and coordinated air and marine interdiction force.

* Office of Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) responsible for promoting confidence in our nations civil aviation system through the effective deployment of Federal Air Marshals to detect, deter and defeat hostile acts targeting U.S. air carries, airports, passengers and crews.

* Office of Federal Protective Service responsible for policing, securing and ensuring a safe environment in which federal agencies can conduct their business by reducing threats posed against the more than 8,800 federal facilities nationwide.

* Office of Intelligence responsible for the collection, analysis and dissemination of strategic and tactical intelligence data for use by the operational elements of ICE and the DHS.