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 ICE Office of Congressional Relations (OCR) handles outreach to Congress, with a strong focus on promoting greater understanding of ICE operations, policies, programs and initiatives among members of Congress, Congressional committees and their staffs by providing responsive, accurate, and relevant replies to inquiries and requests.
All Congressional liaison efforts spearheaded by OCR are conducted in close partnership with the ICE director's office, executive staff, division directors, field office leadership and the Department of Homeland Security.
OCR is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
OCR represents ICE to Congress through a broad variety of federal congressional liaison activities. It helps ICE leadership respond and provide information to congressional decision makers about the agency's mission and operations.
Search the Congress.gov database to find legislative information.
Raymond Kovacic is the Assistant Director, Office of Congressional Relations (OCR), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
OCR represents ICE on Capitol Hill through a broad variety of congressional liaison activities that promote greater awareness of ICE operations and national and local policies as well as the agency's various programs and initiatives. OCR partners closely with ICE leadership and the Department of Homeland Security to execute these liaison efforts.
Prior to his appointment, Raymond served as the Assistant Field Office Director in Ventura, California, a sub-office of the Los Angeles Field Office. Raymond was responsible for Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties and the San Fernando Valley, where he led critical ICE programs and operations to identify, arrest, and remove illegal aliens from the United States.
At the forefront of developing innovative approaches to fugitive removals, Raymond was crucial to supporting his office’s increased enforcement activities. Throughout his near three-decade long federal law enforcement career he developed a network of critical relationships with law enforcement leaders and members of Congress.
Following 9/11, Raymond was a senior member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Osama Bin Laden Unit, Counterterrorism Section, FBI Headquarters, where he spearheaded intelligence gathering efforts.
From 1991 to 2003, Raymond was a Special Agent and Supervisory Special Agent for the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, Office of Investigations (OI), which was transitioned to the newly formed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2003. He also served from 2004 to 2006 as the ICE liaison to U.S. Senator John Cornyn and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Through his comprehensive knowledge of public policy and administration objectives and his ability to strike a balance between political, policy, and individual interests, he advanced the ICE mission by forging strategic partnerships with congressional offices and staff in concert with the Director and ICE officials.
Raymond was born in Connecticut and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Northeastern University. He has two sons, Michael and Jared, who reside in Westlake Village, California.
