ICE’s Acting Director Matthew Albence decried how “unfortunate” and “disruptive” Tuesday’s protests at the agency headquarters are in an email obtained exclusively by The Young Turks.
“It is unfortunate that our honorable law enforcement agency is subject to such protests,” the email signed by Albence states. The memo also describes how the protests disrupted ICE operations and urges employees to report “suspicious persons.”
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
TYT previously reported that an internal ICE memo sent to Albence said that multiple deaths in ICE custody were avoidable. “ICE’s Health Services Corps] is severely dysfunctional and unfortunately preventable harm and death to detainees has occurred,” the memo written by an ICE supervisor states.
Albence stirred controversy when he likened ICE detention facilities to “summer camp.”
On Tuesday afternoon, around 1,000 protesters demonstrated outside ICE headquarters in Washington, DC. The protests were organized by a Jewish activist group called Never Again Action — a reference to concentration camps.
Protesters carried signs saying “Never again means close the concentration camps.”
Although the email notes that the protests were peaceful, it also calls them “disruptive” and urges ICE employees to remain “vigilant” and report “suspicious persons.”
“Within a few hours, the peaceful, yet disruptive protests ended...It is every employee’s responsibility to report suspicious persons, activities, and unattended packages.”
The email also describes how ICE headquarters “was placed in a lock down condition” due to the protests, which are said to have “disrupt[ed] normal operations.”
