The Twitter account for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was removed then placed back on the social media platform Thursday after a “technical glitch" was resolved.
At some point Thursday, the @ICEgov account appeared to have disappeared from Twitter. The disappearance of the account for the federal agency, which has been the subject of polarizing political debates, got lots of response Thursday afternoon. Matt Ford, a reporter with The New Republic, tweeted that the account had disappeared about 12:18 p.m.
Immigration enforcement is the primary purpose of ICE, and the agency enforces “400 federal statutes and focuses on smart immigration enforcement, preventing terrorism and combating the illegal movement of people and goods,” according to the website. Some critics have disputed the efforts to enforce immigration laws as an affront to human rights for the thousands who are being detained at the more than 130 facilities across the U.S.
Shortly after 4 p.m., the owners of the @ICEgov account announced that the account was reinstated after Twitter assisted the organization in correcting a technical issue.
“No hackers, no rogue employees. We had a technical glitch and we appreciate the Twitter team’s help in bringing us back online. Stay tuned here for more great news about the work that the men and women of ICE do every day to protect the homeland.”
A Twitter spokesperson told the American Military News that the issue was regarding a date change within the Twitter settings.
"Twitter requires people using the service to be 13 years of age or older. If an account’s birthdate is changed to a day/month/year prior to that and our systems identify content posted by the account before they were 13 years old, they will be locked out of the account. The account has been reinstated.”
Several Twitter users speculated why the account had been removed. Some linked the account suspension to the pending change of power in the White House from President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden. Some called for Twitter to subpoena the account’s direct messages.
In recent days, the agency’s handling of the spread of COVID-19 in detention centers across the country has come into question. Researchers analyzed data from 92 of the nation’s 135 ICE detention centers and found the case rate among detainees was on average more than 13 times the rate of the U.S. population each month from April to August, according to the report published late last month in JAMA.
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