A former top U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is criticizing the Trump administration’s use of the agency.

“This doesn’t work for our communities, it doesn’t work for our economy, and it doesn’t work for our national security and public safety,” Jason Houser, ICE chief of staff under President Joe Biden, told MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday.

As protests against ICE actions continue in Minneapolis and across the country, attorneys representing detainees have also accused the Department of Homeland Security of denying people their right to legal assistance.

A majority of Americans (52%) have indicated that ICE is making communities “less safe,” according to a recent News/YouGov poll.

“So Americans are starting to see, as polls showed [indicates]we are less safe,” Houser said.

Aliya Rahman was detained by federal agents near the scene where Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer on January 7 in Minneapolis.
Aliya Rahman was detained by federal agents near the scene where Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer on January 7 in Minneapolis.

AP Photo/Adam Gray

Houser, who previously criticized the administration for trying to “push a narrative” that immigrants seeking legal protection were here to harm Americans, told Wallace that he had spoken to “dozens, if not hundreds” of state and local authorities, as well as his former colleagues at ICE, who told him that no one sees how the administration’s approach to the agency is in the best interest of public safety.

Houser noted that while there have been “systemic failures” in multiple administrations, the Trump administration’s “political opportunism,” “quota arrest targets,” and violent repression in American cities had stoked fear among asylum seekers.

Houser suggested that by trying to meet arrest quotas initially set by Trump’s top White House adviser, Stephen Miller, ICE had been diverted from the department’s historic focus on addressing drug crimes and human trafficking.

“That’s been deprioritized,” Houser said.