The Department of Homeland Security is encouraging Americans to report abusive ex-partners to immigration officials, touting the case of an individual who went “from domestic abuser to deported loser.”
The comments, shared in a post on X featuring a link to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement tip line, were in response to a previous post from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.
The Florida official, an outspoken backer of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda and the force behind the state’s now-infamous “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention center, described taking a tip about an abusive individual who overstayed their visa and steering the accused toward deportation.
“We recently got a tip from someone whose abusive ex overstayed a tourism visa. He is now cued up for deportation,” Uthmeier wrote. “If your ex is in this country illegally, please feel free to reach out to our office. We’d be happy to assist.”
The Independent has contacted the Department of Homeland Security and Uthmeier’s office for comment on the individual in question.
The ICE tip reportedly receives about 15,000 calls a month.
In addition to social media posts featuring the tip line, the Trump administration has sought other unorthodox ways of pursuing its campaign of mass deportations.
The administration converted a Biden administration asylum appointment app into CBP Home, a portal where immigrants can register their self-deportations.
The administration has also offered $1,000 incentives for undocumented people who self-deport.
Federal immigration officials say they remain committed to pursuing deportations against convicted criminals and the worst of the worst, though so far efforts have cast a wide net and involved thousands of arrests of those without any criminal history.
ICE claimed on Tuesday that roughly 70 percent of the people it has arrested during the Trump administration have been convicted or charged with crimes, though the agency considers violations ranging from violent felonies to illegal entry, a petty offense under federal law, on equal footing.
Contrarily, more than 70 percent of those in immigration detention have no criminal convictions, according to an analysis of government data by Syracuse University.
Being unlawfully present in the U.S., as is the case for many people who entered the country legally but overstayed their visas, is not a criminal offense on its own.
Acting ICE director Todd Lyons recently told CBS News that the agency still prioritizes going after serious offenders, but said sanctuary jurisdictions that eschew cooperation with federal immigration officials mean ICE agents must go out into the field to make arrests.
During these operations, the Trump administration has reauthorized agents to make so-called “collateral arrests” of undocumented migrants who were not the intended targets of raids, after the practice was curtailed under the Biden administration.
