Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share From INS to ICE: How Immigration Enforcement Has Changed
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
From INS to ICE: How Immigration Enforcement Has Changed
In the latest episode of the Center for Immigration Studies podcast, Executive Director Mark Krikorian speaks with Scott Mechkowski, retired Deputy Field Office Director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York. With experience at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Mechkowski offers an inside view of how immigration enforcement has changed over time.
From his early days as a deportation officer to leading seven Fugitive Operations Teams targeting dangerous criminal aliens, Mechkowski recounts arrests, post-9/11 operations, and the gradual breakdown of cooperation between ICE and New York City authorities under sanctuary policies. He contrasts the first Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement approach — led by then-ICE Acting Director Tom Homan — with the Biden administration’s politicization of the agency under DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Mechkowski also discusses operational challenges, the role of E-Verify, detention space needs, and the realities behind having arrest targets. His reflections reveal how enforcement priorities, local politics, and national leadership shape ICE’s ability to remove those who should not be in the country.
Host
Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
Guest
Scott Mechkowski is a retired Deputy Field Office Director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York
Related
National Immigration Center for Enforcement
Intro Montage
Voices in the opening montage:
From his early days as a deportation officer to leading seven Fugitive Operations Teams targeting dangerous criminal aliens, Mechkowski recounts arrests, post-9/11 operations, and the gradual breakdown of cooperation between ICE and New York City authorities under sanctuary policies. He contrasts the first Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement approach — led by then-ICE Acting Director Tom Homan — with the Biden administration’s politicization of the agency under DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Mechkowski also discusses operational challenges, the role of E-Verify, detention space needs, and the realities behind having arrest targets. His reflections reveal how enforcement priorities, local politics, and national leadership shape ICE’s ability to remove those who should not be in the country.
Host
Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
Guest
Scott Mechkowski is a retired Deputy Field Office Director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York
Related
National Immigration Center for Enforcement
Intro Montage
Voices in the opening montage:
- Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
- Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
- President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
- Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
- Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
- Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
- Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
- Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
- Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
- Candidate Trump in 2015 campaign speech.
- Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".
View all episodes
By Center for Immigration Studies
4.2
5353 ratings
In the latest episode of the Center for Immigration Studies podcast, Executive Director Mark Krikorian speaks with Scott Mechkowski, retired Deputy Field Office Director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York. With experience at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Mechkowski offers an inside view of how immigration enforcement has changed over time.
From his early days as a deportation officer to leading seven Fugitive Operations Teams targeting dangerous criminal aliens, Mechkowski recounts arrests, post-9/11 operations, and the gradual breakdown of cooperation between ICE and New York City authorities under sanctuary policies. He contrasts the first Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement approach — led by then-ICE Acting Director Tom Homan — with the Biden administration’s politicization of the agency under DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Mechkowski also discusses operational challenges, the role of E-Verify, detention space needs, and the realities behind having arrest targets. His reflections reveal how enforcement priorities, local politics, and national leadership shape ICE’s ability to remove those who should not be in the country.
Host
Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
Guest
Scott Mechkowski is a retired Deputy Field Office Director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York
Related
National Immigration Center for Enforcement
Intro Montage
Voices in the opening montage:
From his early days as a deportation officer to leading seven Fugitive Operations Teams targeting dangerous criminal aliens, Mechkowski recounts arrests, post-9/11 operations, and the gradual breakdown of cooperation between ICE and New York City authorities under sanctuary policies. He contrasts the first Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement approach — led by then-ICE Acting Director Tom Homan — with the Biden administration’s politicization of the agency under DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Mechkowski also discusses operational challenges, the role of E-Verify, detention space needs, and the realities behind having arrest targets. His reflections reveal how enforcement priorities, local politics, and national leadership shape ICE’s ability to remove those who should not be in the country.
Host
Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
Guest
Scott Mechkowski is a retired Deputy Field Office Director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York
Related
National Immigration Center for Enforcement
Intro Montage
Voices in the opening montage:
- Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
- Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
- President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
- Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
- Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
- Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
- Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
- Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
- Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
- Candidate Trump in 2015 campaign speech.
- Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".
More shows like Parsing Immigration Policy
View all
Federalist Radio Hour
3,313 Listeners
Hillsdale Dialogues
2,127 Listeners
The Glenn Show
2,280 Listeners
3 Martini Lunch – Political Humor & Commentary
1,534 Listeners
The Libertarian
982 Listeners
The Ricochet Podcast
1,399 Listeners
The Editors
4,907 Listeners
3 Whisky Happy Hour
498 Listeners
National Review's Radio Free California Podcast
698 Listeners
Heritage Explains
848 Listeners
The McCarthy Report
2,842 Listeners
The American Mind Podcast
1,225 Listeners
New Discourses
2,378 Listeners
The Auron MacIntyre Show
510 Listeners
Next Up with Mark Halperin
1,392 Listeners