ICE and DOJ Sign Agreements to Share Information on Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime

/PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009, to foster increased communication between participating agencies at the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Fusion Center and the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2).

"The OCDETF Fusion Center and IOC-2 are founded on the principle that we can accomplish more together than we can separately," said Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden. "By bringing together the agencies and personnel with existing resources and expertise we can work more effectively as partners to shut down organized crime networks, seize assets and save taxpayer dollars in the process. This agreement, coupled with recent agreements between ICE, DEA and ATF will allow new levels of cooperation and intelligence sharing."

"These additional agreements we've signed with our Department of Justice law enforcement partners help us all better combat the worst criminal offenders," said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE John Morton. "By combining our resources, we expect to stop more drug smugglers and organized crime across the country."

By becoming an active participant in the OCDETF Fusion Center as outlined in one MOU, ICE will be adding more than 25 million records, including reports of investigation, wiretap intercept information and financial investigative material, from its drug-related investigations and drug-related financial investigations to the Fusion Center. ICE will also gain access to the additional agency information available through the Fusion Center. This increased partnership will further help in the joint fight against drug trafficking organizations by all of the other Fusion Center agencies, including the FBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

The ability of all participating Fusion Center agencies to develop target profiles and actionable investigative leads to disrupt and dismantle significant drug traffickers is enhanced by the increase of information collected at the Fusion Center. In addition to sharing in one collection of information, coordinating with the Fusion Center allows participating law enforcement agencies to "de-conflict" their investigations. De-confliction ensures that two or more agencies are not duplicating resources or that one agency's investigation will not have a negative impact on another agency's investigation.

DOJ and ICE also signed an MOU regarding ICE participation in the newly-created IOC-2, which marshals the resources and information of nine U.S. law enforcement agencies, as well as federal prosecutors, to collectively combat the threats posed by international criminal organizations to domestic safety and security. It allows partner agencies to join together in a task force setting, combine data and produce actionable leads for investigators and prosecutors working nationwide to combat international organized crime, and to coordinate the resulting multi-jurisdictional investigations and prosecutions. ICE's new membership in IOC-2 will allow all the partner agencies to draw on data that now ICE will provide, while allowing ICE to work investigations with other agencies that may be targeting the same syndicates.

These latest MOUs follow closely on the heels of two additional agreements DEA and ATF, respectively, signed recently with ICE. Together, these agreements show a significant level of partnership and cooperation within the federal law enforcement agencies to target major criminal organizations.

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Department of Justice Announces Grants to Enhance Efforts to Fight Human Trafficking

PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Associate Attorney General Kevin J. O'Connor today announced almost $10 million in additional funding to supplement existing task forces and to expand the number of task forces working with community-based organizations to combat human trafficking. The Associate Attorney General made the announcement at the 2008 National Conference on Human Trafficking, where more than 350 representatives from federal, state, and local organizations gathered to discuss methods of investigating human trafficking and servitude and how best to provide services to trafficking victims.

"Human Trafficking is a serious crime and deserves the focused attention of law enforcement and victim service providers," said Associate Attorney General O'Connor. "The task forces receiving funding today are made up of both of these important elements. We will continue to use all of the resources at our disposal to make sure that traffickers are convicted and that victims receive the assistance they need to recover."

Since 2001, the Department has partnered with state and local law enforcement, and victim service organizations to convict 342 traffickers and assist 1,300 victims from 80 countries. In 2007 alone, the Department opened 154 new trafficking investigations.

Of the funds announced today, more than $4.1 million will go to task forces in: Washington, D.C.; Hawaii; Boston, Mass.; Suffolk County, N.Y.; New Jersey; Nassau County, N.Y..; San Jose, Calif.; Saint Paul, Minn.; Lee County, Fla.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Multnomah County, Ore..; Westminster, Calif.; Homestead, Fla.; Pitt County, N.C..; Harris County, Texas; Seattle, Wash.; and Clearwater, Fla. Three new task forces will be established in Westminster, Calif.; Homestead, Fla; and Pitt County, N.C. To date, the Department has provided more than $70 million in total funding to these task forces.

In addition, the following victim service organizations have received funding to work with the task forces:

Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance
$230,000

International Rescue Committee, Miami, Fla.
$460,000

North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault
$460,000

Salvation Army, Orange County, Calif.
$460,000

Bilateral Safety Corridor
San Diego, Calif.
$230,000

YMCA of Greater Houston Area
Houston, Texas
$230,000

Heartland Alliance for Human Needs
Chicago, Ill. area
$230,000

Safe Horizon, Inc.
New York City and Nassau County, N.Y. areas
$230,000

Salvation Army Hawaiian and Pacific Island Division
$230,000

Justice Resource Institute, Inc.
Massachusetts
$200,000

Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST)
Los Angeles, Calif.
$230,000

Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach
$230,000

International Rescue Committee
Phoenix, Ariz.
$230,000

International Institute of Metropolitan St. Louis
St. Louis, Mo.
$230,000

Tapestri, Inc.
Atlanta, Ga.
$230,000

Catholic Charities of Venice, Inc.
Lee County, Fla.
$230,000

Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pa.
$230,000

Catholic Charities Oregon
$299,999

Salvation Army Alaska
$230,000

Refugees Services of Texas
$230,000

Northeastern University
$299,999


The Department also announced more than $400,000 to fund two studies conducted by Abt Associates, Inc. and San Diego State University Research Foundation. The studies will assess criminal justice strategies and collaborative programs across the country and internationally that focus on reducing the demand for commercial sex.

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims. More information about OJP's work on human trafficking can be found at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/. More information about the efforts of the Civil Rights Division to combat human trafficking can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/whatwedo/whatwedo_ctip.html.

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