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Robert Cerna, the acting director of the ICE field office in Dallas, Texas, spoke with “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil Wednesday on the tension surrounding immigration enforcement action in cities across the U.S.
Their conversation came hours after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis. Cerna said he couldn’t comment on the investigation but called it “a tragic event.”
Here are five takeaways from their conversation:
On the tension around ICE in cities across the country
Dokoupil noted the tension and turmoil surrounding ICE action across the U.S. and asked: “Are you concerned that the mission of ICE may not be able to be carried out in a way that is both effective and safe for everyone involved?”
Cerna said “that’s a concern every day that we face,” but added that he’s not concerned that the mission can’t be accomplished because “we are committed to this public safety mission.”
On masking
Cerna said ICE officers are wearing masks for their protection and for the protection of their families, citing doxxing and harassment.
“We all took an oath to serve this country and to enforce immigration laws,” he said. “And that’s all we’re doing.”
On anger towards ICE
Dokoupil asked: “What do you think explains the public anger there is towards ICE?”
“I really don’t know,” Cerna said. “I just think that the public might not have all the information that they need to know as far as the type of work that we’re doing, the criminal aliens that we’re getting off the streets and we’re moving back to their home countries. A lot of times, you know, all that is missed but we are doing a lot of great work.”
On controversial ICE videos
Dokoupil asked Cerna what he’d say to the public about videos that appear to show ICE using excessive force, including using pepper balls and dragging protesters.
Cerna said there’s often “more to what is on that video,” including whatever happened beforehand and commands given by ICE officers.
“What’s happening right now is…I guess since we’re ICE officers, they don’t, they don’t feel that we have the authority that we actually do have.”
Dokoupil noted that ICE is getting larger, not smaller, and asked how the agency will carry out its mission “in a way that is safer and less tumultuous than it is right now.”
Cerna said it’s a “hard question” and that ICE officers train to “make arrests in the safest way possible” but that people “are being more reckless when we’re trying to make those arrests.”
“Now, what a lot of people don’t understand is … there might be someone that we’re, we’ve targeted, we’ve identified, we’ve located that individual, and now we’re making an arrest. And that person, you know, might just be facing a removal back to their home country. But when they recklessly ram into our vehicles, now they’re assaulting an officer… They’re putting themselves in danger and … they’re putting themselves in more of a risk to getting prosecuted for that assault.”
His message to Americans
When asked what he wants every American to know, Cerna said: “We’re all part .. of this community. I mean, we’re, we’re fathers, we’re mothers, we’re brothers, we’re sisters. We have a family, and all we’re doing is we’re, we’re enforcing the immigration laws as they’re written and, you know, that’s all we’re doing … we took an oath to do this, this mission, and that’s what we’re doing, and we’re doing it to the best of our ability.”
