The White House President George W. Bush |
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Michael J. Garcia
Former Assistant Secretary for
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), 2003-2005
In March 2003 President Bush appointed Michael J. Garcia as the Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) and he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in November 2003. Assistant Secretary Garcia led the second largest investigative agency in the Federal Government with over 20,000 employees, including 6,000 investigators, and a budget of more than $4 billion. The ICE mission is to secure the homeland through enforcement of
immigration and customs laws and by protecting U.S. commercial aviation and federal facilities.
Garcia served as Acting Commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) from December 2002 to
February 2003 before it was integrated into the Department of Homeland Security. From August 2001 to November 2002, he
was the top federal enforcer of dual-use export control laws as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export
Enforcement.
From 1992 to 2001, Garcia was a federal prosecutor with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of
New York. During that time, he prosecuted some of the nation.s highest-profile terrorism cases prior to September 11,
2001, including: