ICE consists of three directorates to accomplish the agency’s mission, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Management and Administration (M&A).
ICE's primary mission is to promote homeland security and public safety through the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration.
Catch up on ICE’s most popular news stories from the week ending March 25, 2016
ICE executes its mission through the enforcement of more than 400 federal statutes, focusing on preventing terrorism, immigration enforcement and combating transnational crime.
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The Special Agent Cadet Program was created in 2013 as an outreach mechanism to educate teenagers and young adults with disabilities and chronic illnesses about the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) mission.
The Cadet Program was developed to support ICE’s efforts to raise awareness and educate young people, between the ages of 13-21 and who have disabilities and/or chronic illnesses, about the ICE - HSI mission. Each year, the partnering hospitals or care facilities announce to their patients about the opportunity to participate in the Cadet Program. The Hospital or Care Facility then selects the participants for the HSI Cadet Program. Hospitals and care facilities that are interested in partnering with HSI are kindly asked to send an email to the HSIPOCCADETPROGRAM@ice.dhs.gov mailbox.
The inaugural program was piloted by HSI Headquarters in partnership with the Medstar Georgetown University Children’s Hospital in Washington, DC, on June 12, 2013, to create a learning environment for teenagers and young adults in chronic treatment programs to educate them on HSI's programmatic areas and initiatives. Eight cadets were chosen for the three month pilot and were offered several two-hour interactive overviews presented by subject matter experts from HSI's 1811 Programs Section, the HSI Forensics Laboratory, National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Coordination Center, and the National Gang Unit. The cadets were educated about transnational gangs, intellectual property rights, forensic document analysis, and narcotics and contraband smuggling.
Throughout the classroom instruction, HSI instructors guided the students through a mock investigation. Additionally, HSI partnered with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to further enhance the mock investigation by providing the cadets and their families a tour of the Port of Baltimore, and inspecting a shipping container with smuggled "narcotics" concealed inside.
The students wrapped up their investigation at the field day exercise at the CBP Advanced Training Center in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, where members of the HSI DC Special Response Team trained the cadets on search warrant execution and vehicle assault tactics. The field day culminated with the cadets performing a high-risk vehicle assault and arrest of the “bad guy”. The top cadet was presented with the Edward J. Smith Award. This award was given in honor of Mr. Smith, an HSI special agent who passed away from cancer. The inaugural Cadet Program class concluded with a graduation ceremony at HSI Headquarters (HQ) on August 13, 2013, for the cadets and their families.
The Cadet Program expanded to HSI Philadelphia in 2016, partnering with Nemours Alfred I. DuPont Children's Hospital in nearby Wilmington, DE. HSI Headquarters in Washington, DC, added Inova Children's Hospital in Fairfax, VA as a partner in 2017.
HSI has successfully implemented five iterations of the program since 2013, with 39 cadet graduates from the DC metropolitan area and 19 cadet graduates from the Philadelphia metropolitan area for an overall total of 58 cadet graduates.
The 6th Annual Cadet Program is scheduled to occur in the summer of 2018. HSI Headquarters will be partnering with both Medstar Georgetown and Inova Hospitals. HSI Philadelphia will again partner with the Nemours Alfred I. DuPont Children's Hospital.
