Demanding answers and safety from violent ICE

Earlier this year, NBC reported ICE was skipping the established background check process to rush recruits through training, including some with pending domestic violence-related charges. This month in Ohio, an ICE agent was charged with felonious assault, strangulation, and domestic violence after putting a female in a chokehold, bruising her neck. Police had been called to his residence 22 times in the past year and a half, but Samuel Saxon remained employed by ICE the entire time. This is the same ICE office that employed Andrew Golobic, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for sexually extorting women under his "supervision" in the agency's "Alternatives to Detention" program.  

"There's a real problem with gender-based violence by ICE agents, and the agency is not taking it seriously," said Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. "Andrew Golobic used his position of power against women who feared deportation to extort sex. The police have been called to Samuel Saxon's home 22 times for domestic violence, yet he's remained in his job to this day. Anyone familiar with the pattern of domestic violence knows strangulation is part of a pattern of escalating behavior that often ends in murder.”

Tramonte continued: “This is an agency that demonizes immigrants who have committed no crimes, yet it fails to police its own ranks. The hypocrisy is breathtaking, and the threat to public safety is clear. We want answers from the Detroit ICE Field Office and Cincinnati Local Office. Do ICE agents have to inform their employer when they come under scrutiny by other law enforcement agencies? Did Saxon inform ICE that he had come under police scrutiny 22 times? If yes, why did they continue to employ him? After allowing a serial sexual predator, Andrew Golobic, to abuse women for years, ICE should have implemented tighter controls. Instead, they are showing that they really do not care about predators. Our community is tired of hearing this agency spread lies about immigrants, and failing to hold its own officers accountable. We demand true public safety, and that includes safety from violent ICE officers like Samuel Saxon.”