ICE Accountability

We are incredibly disappointed with the news that Bruce Norum, supervisory detention and deportation officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will be reinstated. Last September, Norum sent a racist and anti-Muslim email to Shahid Haque-Hausrath, an immigration attorney in Montana. The forwarded email message suggested that people should be treated with suspicion and denied basic constitutional rights based solely on the color of their skin and their religion. Mr. Norum has great power and authority in Montana over arrests, detentions, and deportations. The public needs to trust that our law enforcement agents do their job in a just way, without bias. As the highest-ranking ICE official in Montana, Mr. Norum sets the tone for the agency. Based on the email he forwarded and the power of his position with ICE, Muslim Montanans and other people of color have reason to fear being profiled, arrested, or detained based on the color of their skin.

The decision to reinstate Mr. Norum is not acceptable, and we the undersigned demand both transparency about the investigation and accountability for Mr. Norum's actions.