U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Victims Unit (ICE SVU), in a departure from their sex crimes work, provided some kabuki theater immigration enforcement on Thursday.  It arrested dozens of lawfully admitted aliens admitted to study for working illegally as pedicab operators in San Diego.  Curiously ICE SVU then immediately released the students and instructed them to leave the country.

CBS 8 October 11, 2012, Reporter Shannon Handy

ICE Agents Raid Downtown Apartments, Arrest Dozens Of Pedicab Operators

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Federal agents fanned out through the Gaslamp Quarter Thursday and rounded up dozens of foreign nationals violating their student visas by working as pedicab drivers in the popular tourist district, authorities reported.

The raids of downtown San Diego apartments began at about 6 a.m. and continued through the late morning, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

The roughly 40 people taken into custody, mostly young adults from Eastern Europe, were questioned and informed of the revocation of their visas, ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack said. They were then released on condition that they leave the United States within 30 days, she said.

Most of those detained had been allowed into the country to attend school and were prohibited from working during their stays, according to Mack. Any of them who fail to leave voluntarily will be subject to deportation proceedings, she said.

I do not know if it was just a reporter ignorant of the law and misreported what ICE SVU did, but ICE SVU cannot revoke visas.  Only the Department of State (DOS) can revoke a visa.  Perhaps the visas were revoked and ICE SVU was just informing the aliens of the DOS action, but unlikely, as DOS revokes visas only rarely and never enmasse such as this.

More amazing was the return of catch and release, the policy of arresting then releasing illegal aliens that became the bane of the U.S. Border Patrol in the late Jorge Bush Regime, which was supposedly ended.

Of more interest is the claim by ICE SVU that the aliens must leave within 30 days.  An alien arrested in the United States has a right to a hearing before the Executive Office For Immigration Review.  It is explicit in the story that the students were ordered to leave.  ICE SVU does not have that authority, unless by chance they used their Expedited Removal authority, but that is unlikely, as ICE SVU should have placed them in custody, then on the next aircraft out of the United States.  However in the case of Expedited Removal, if an alien fails to leave, the next step is not any further removal proceedings, but ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations placing the alien on the next conveyance out. 

The only other option is that all the aliens waived their rights to a hearing and agreed to depart voluntarily, but that is not what the story says, it says they were ordered.

Is ICE SVU's kabuki immigration enforcement outside the laws of the United States?  It could be.  It is clear that this was a performance for the cameras, as CBS 8 was apparently invited along for the action.  Is this a "Wag The Dog" immigration enforcement action designed to help the relection of Barack Hussein Obama?

But in any event, how many of these alien students will be leaving voluntarily?  Most likely, very few.  They will remain, working in the underground economy because they were released. 

And from their work as pedicab operators, their so-called studies were not the reason they came here, but employment was the reason they obtained student visas, and, by the way, the ability to get a California Driver's License or Identification Card. 

They also have an Social Security Number as well.  It is clear that this ICE SVU operation was boob bait for bubbas.