Enforcement and Removal Operations

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) is the arm of ICE built for one thing: finding people, detaining them, and deporting them. If ICE were split into two personalities, HSI is the investigator; ERO is the one knocking on doors at 5 a.m., arresting people at work, and filling detention centers across the country.

ERO calls this “enforcing immigration law.” Communities across the U.S. know it as fear, intimidation, and family separation.

What ERO Actually Does

ERO oversees every stage of the deportation pipeline:

• identifying individuals for removal
• conducting arrests and sweeps
• managing detention facilities
• handling transportation (including removal flights)
• supervising people released under monitoring programs

On paper, it’s civil enforcement. In practice, ERO behaves like a national police force operating with minimal oversight.

Field Offices

ERO divides the country into numerous field offices, each controlling operations across entire regions. These offices coordinate raids, jail pickups, courthouse arrests, and joint actions with local police.

Learn more: ICE List:How Field Offices Operate

Inside the Deportation Machinery

ERO’s power rests on three pillars:

1. Access to local jails ERO routinely pulls people from county jails through detainers, many of which courts have repeatedly ruled unlawful. Whole counties effectively function as feeders into ICE custody.

2. Large detention capacity ERO maintains a sprawling detention network — private prisons, county jails, purpose-built ICE facilities — with the ability to move people quickly and quietly.

3. Enforcement programs ERO runs a web of programs that plug directly into local law enforcement, including:

• 287(g) agreements (turning sheriffs into ICE extensions)
• Secure Communities (fingerprint pipeline)
• CAP — Criminal Alien Program

See: ICE List:287g Agreements Explained

Transportation and Removal

ERO operates a full transport system:

• buses between detention centers
• contract security escorts
• chartered removal flights (ICE Air)

Once someone enters the ERO system, movement is continuous and often invisible — deliberately designed to isolate people from lawyers, family, and community support.

Surveillance and “Alternatives to Detention”

ERO uses “Alternatives to Detention” (ATD) as a PR phrase. In reality, these are surveillance programs:

• ankle monitors
• facial-recognition check-ins
• GPS tracking
• mandatory apps

These programs extend ICE’s control far beyond detention centers.

Cooperation With Local Police

ERO relies heavily on local law enforcement. Some agencies welcome the cooperation; many others reject it because it destroys trust in communities and diverts resources from actual crime prevention.

ERO’s partnerships often operate in the shadows, without public debate or transparency.

Oversight and Controversy

ERO is consistently criticized for:

• unconstitutional detainers
• abusive conditions in detention
• separating families
• retaliatory raids targeting activists
• mass removals without due process
• racial profiling through cooperative agreements

Civil rights groups, watchdog organizations, and legal teams have documented patterns of abuse across multiple field offices.

See Also

• ICE List:ICE vs CBP vs HSI vs ERO
• ICE List:287g Agreements Explained
• ICE List:How Field Offices Operate
• ICE List:Inside ICE Detention
• ICE List:Methodology

External Context

For the public: ERO is the most visible and aggressive branch of ICE. For the ICE List: it is the primary source of arrests, raids, and incidents across the United States — and the reason we document every badge, vehicle, and operation we can.