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United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Federal law enforcement agency From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; /aɪs/ ⓘ) is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. Its stated mission is to conduct criminal investigations, enforce immigration laws, preserve national security, and protect public safety. Growing under the second Donald Trump administration, ICE has been accused of numerous civil rights abuses and become a tool of intimidation. The agency's "sweeping immigration raids" are part of a crackdown against immigration under the second Trump administration.[3]
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ICE was created as part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, following the September 11 attacks. It absorbed the prior functions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the United States Customs Service. ICE has two primary and distinct law enforcement components, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), in addition to three supporting divisions: the Management and Program Administration, the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA), and the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).
ICE maintains domestic offices throughout the United States and detachments at major U.S. diplomatic missions overseas. ICE personnel (special agents and officers) do not patrol American borders; rather, that role is performed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Coast Guard. The acting director is Todd Lyons; the agency has not had a Senate-confirmed director since Sarah Saldaña stepped down on January 20, 2017.
ICE has been involved in multiple controversies over its existence, with significant increases in criticism during the first and especially the second administration of Donald Trump. Following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025, ICE became the largest and most well-funded federal law enforcement agency in U.S. history. Its aggressive enforcement actions, controversial publicity campaigns, and militarization resulted in significant drops of public support and raised concerns over a lack of accountability and civil rights violations.[4][5] Its officers have violently detained or kidnapped immigrants from the streets,[6][7] detained and imprisoned foreigners at the border with delayed explanation and legal counsel,[8] and, in one incident, violently harassed and handcuffed an opposition politician who was attempting to accompany a man out of a courtroom.[9] ICE agents are noted for wearing masks to protect their identity and using unmarked vehicles.[6] The agency has been the subject of widespread protests.[10] ICE's actions have been condemned by politicians as designed to "sow terror" (Karen Bass)[3] and been held up as an example of "political intimidation" (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez).[11]
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Description
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A federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security, ICE's stated mission is to "[p]rotect America through criminal investigations and enforcing immigration laws to preserve national security and public safety".[12][better source needed][13][better source needed] ICE enforces more than 400 federal statutes, focusing on customs violations, immigration enforcement, terrorism prevention, and trafficking.[14][15][better source needed]
ICE's two primary and distinct law enforcement components are Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). HSI is focused on the disruption of transnational crime, whereas ERO is responsible for the apprehension, detention, deportation and removal of undocumented immigrants. ERO is among the most public and contentious functions of ICE, and maintains custodial facilities used to detain people who are suspected to be illegally present in the United States and pose a reasonable threat to public safety. The agency's three supporting divisions are: Management & Program Administration, the Office of Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) and the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).[16][better source needed] Like its predecessor in immigration enforcement, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the agency and its personnel are known informally in Spanish as "la migra".[17]
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History
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Origins and initial activities
The origins of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents date back to the formations of the United States Customs Service in 1789.[18][better source needed] The taxing of imports led to the creation of the Treasury Department and its sub-components (i.e. Division of Customs Chief and Revenue Marine (Revenue Cutter Service)). Later, the Industrial Revolution led to some of the first immigration related laws targeting forced labor, human trafficking and child exploitation.[19][better source needed]
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alongside its parent agency the Department of Homeland Security, was formed under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, following the September 11 attacks.[20] With its establishment, ICE, alongside two other agencies, absorbed and assumed the functions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (which was previously housed under the Justice Department) and the United States Customs Service (which was part of the Treasury Department).[21] ICE is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security and a contributor to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force.[22] The agency operates with a significant budget and workforce.[23]
The agencies that were either moved entirely or merged in part into ICE included the criminal investigative and intelligence resources of the United States Customs Service, the criminal investigative, detention and deportation resources of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Federal Protective Service. The Federal Protective Service was later transferred from ICE to the National Protection and Programs Directorate effective October 28, 2009. In 2003, Asa Hutchinson moved the Federal Air Marshals Service from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to ICE,[24] but Michael Chertoff moved them back to the TSA in 2005.[25][better source needed]
In February 2005, ICE began Operation Community Shield, a national law enforcement initiative that targets violent transnational street gangs through the use of ICE's broad law enforcement powers, including the unique and powerful authority to remove criminal immigrants, including undocumented immigrants and legal permanent residents.[26][better source needed][27] Statistics on individuals held in ICE detention facilities are regularly tracked.[28]
Between 2009 and 2016, the Barack Obama administration oversaw the deporting of a record 2.4 million undocumented immigrants who had entered the United States, earning him the nickname "Deporter-In-Chief" by Janet Murguía, the president of National Council of La Raza.[29][30] According to ICE data, about 40% of those deported by ICE in 2015 had no criminal conviction, while a majority of those convicted were guilty of minor charges.[31] Statistics of record deportations were partly due to a change in how deportations were counted that began during the Bush administration and continued under the Obama administration.[32] There have been increasing calls for reforms or even the abolition of ICE.[33]
Actions during the Trump administrations
First Trump administration
In the first presidency of Donald Trump, Trump enacted a hardline immigration policy intended to reduce immigration. Shortly after taking office, he signed an executive order to increase ICE's staffing by 10,000 people, and to vastly expand ICE's immigration enforcement powers.[34] While ICE largely prioritized people charged with serious crimes during the Obama administration, Trump's first administration directed the agency to target anybody it believed had entered the United States illegally.[21] Subsequently, the number of encounters and arrests performed by ICE increased substantially, including the encounters and arrests of U.S. citizens.[35] ICE began engaging in high-profile raids at places of employment, places of worship, and places of education.[21] During this time, some Democratic lawmakers and progressive figures called for the abolition of ICE, and an overhaul of the United States immigration system.[21][34]
In 2018, a total of 19 HSI special agents in charge or SACs (who are the senior most officials in each investigative division) sent a letter to DHS secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and asked to be formally separated from ICE.[34][36] These 19 SACs explained that HSI's investigative mission was repeatedly being hamstrung by ICE's civil immigration enforcement mission,[34][36] saying that many jurisdictions limited their co-operation with HSI because of its linkage to the politically charged activity of ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), which is also housed under ICE.[21][36] These senior leaders requested HSI be restructured as a stand-alone agency analogous to the Secret Service.[36] It was also stated "No U.S. Department of Justice law enforcement agency is paired with another disparate entity, i.e., the FBI is not paired with the Bureau of Prisons or DEA."[36] This letter was ultimately ignored by the administration and resulted in no institutional changes.[36]
Second Trump administration
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ICE again came to the forefront during the second presidency of Donald Trump, as Trump once again imposed a hardline immigration policy. Trump's administration enacted a major wave of deportations, On January 22, the DHS announced the administration was rolling back an Obama-era directive that had protected illegal immigrants in sensitive areas such as hospitals, places of worship, courtrooms, funerals, weddings and schools.[37][38] Two days later, acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman said the agency would deport people admitted into the United States temporarily by the Biden administration.[39] The U.S. military was deployed to assist ICE in multiple states.[40] The administration has used the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport suspected illegal immigrants with limited or no due process,[41][42] and to be imprisoned in El Salvador.[43] Several American citizens were detained and deported.[44] Administration practices have faced legal issues and stoked controversy with lawyers, judges, and legal scholars.[41] The Trump administration began setting daily targets for ICE arrests,[45] and engaged in a controversial campaign to increase the visibility of ICE's arrests.[46][47] Some have stated that ICE during this time has been targeting "Hispanic looking" people,[48] and federal courts have found the agency to be engaged in racial profiling.[49]
On July 21, The Guardian described ICE's "Alligator Alcatraz" in Florida as being involved in "a succession of alleged abuses at jails operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) in the state since January, chronicled by the advocacy groups Human Rights Watch, Americans for Immigrant Justice, and Sanctuary of the South from interviews with detainees".[50] People detained by ICE have reported being deprived of food, water, and showers.[51] In the first couple of months of the second Trump administration, several people died in ICE custody.[52]
Demonstrations emerged nationwide in 2025 against ICE's immigration enforcement activity and policies,[53][54][55][56][57] including the June 2025 Los Angeles protests.
The agency has not had a Senate-confirmed director since Sarah Saldaña stepped down on January 20, 2017;[58] the acting director is Todd Lyons.[2]
Within Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4, 2025,[59] the U.S. government allocated unprecedented funding to ICE for detention facilities, deportation operations, and additional funds to hire new agents.[60] The bill allocates ICE with more funding than any federal law enforcement agency in U.S. history and more than the federal prison system.[61] The expanded ICE funding is expected to lead to mass detentions and deportations, restricted access to asylum, and anticipated economic and humanitarian consequences.[62] As a result, recruitment incentives included a $50,000 sign on bonus and $60,000 college loan forgiveness for sworn police officers.[63]
By July 2025, multiple polls showed a majority of Americans disapproved of the agency, with strongly negative public opinion that surpassed prior negative opinion of it during the 2018 "Abolish ICE" movement.[64] In late August, the Pew Research Center reported that its polls showed an increasingly sharp partisan divide in views of ICE, with 72% of Republican Party supporters viewing the agency favorably, and 78% of Democratic Party supporters viewing it negatively.[65]
In 2025, at least three notable attacks targeted ICE facilities in Texas. On July 4, a group attacked an ICE detention center in Alvarado, by first spray-painting vehicles and a guard structure and setting off fireworks. At least one person positioned in a wooded area near the facility opened fire with an AR-15–style rifle as police arrived on scene, striking an Alvarado police officer in the neck; the officer was released from the hospital a short time later. As of late September, between fifteen[66] and seventeen people had been indicted, including a suspected gunman.[67] Several suspects had left wing ties, and investigators found anti-government, anti-ICE, and anarchist documents.[68][69] In an apparently unrelated incident on August 25, a 36-year-old was arrested at a Dallas ICE field office for claiming he had a bomb and showing officers what he said was a detonator on his wrist.[70][71] The third incident occurred on September 24, when a gunman on a nearby rooftop fired a rifle at a van at the Dallas field office, killing one detainee and critically injuring two others before killing himself.[70] At a briefing the next day, federal officials said that the gunman harbored anti-ICE sentiments and the shooting was a premeditated terrorist act, but he acted alone and was not part of any known organization or group, and he was believed to be targeting ICE officers rather than detainees.[72][73][74][75]
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Organization
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ICE maintains domestic offices throughout the United States and detachments at major U.S. diplomatic missions overseas. ICE personnel (special agents and officers) do not patrol American borders; rather, that role is performed by the Border Patrol.[21][76][77] ERO and HSI operate as two independent law enforcement agencies and have completely separate mission statements. HSI is focused on the disruption of transnational crime, whereas ERO is responsible for the apprehension, detention and removal of undocumented immigrants.[78][better source needed]
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is responsible for identifying and eliminating border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security vulnerabilities. There is an estimate of about 20,000 ICE employees in approximately 400 offices within the United States and 53 countries.[79][better source needed]
The organization is composed of two law enforcement directorates (HSI and ERO) and several support divisions each headed by a director who reports to an executive associate director.[80][better source needed] The divisions of ICE provide investigation, interdiction and security services to the public and other law enforcement partners in the federal and local sectors.[citation needed] Tensions have existed between ICE's two branches, with HSI agents during Trump's first term seeking to more formally break away from ERO after finding it hampered their ability to conduct investigations due to negative associations with ERO's deportation work.[81]
The director of ICE is appointed at the sub-cabinet level by the president of the United States, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and reports directly to the secretary of homeland security.[82][better source needed][83][better source needed]
Structure
- Director (until July 2010 the title had been "assistant secretary")[84][better source needed]
- Deputy director
- Chief of staff
- Enforcement and Removal Operations
- Removal Division
- Secure Communities and Enforcement Division
- Immigration Health Services Division
- Mission Support Division
- Detention Management Division
- Local Field Offices
- Homeland Security Investigations
- Domestic Operations Division
- Intelligence Division
- International Operations Division
- Mission Support
- National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center
- National Security Investigations Division
- Management and Administration
- Office of Professional Responsibility
- Office of the Principal Legal Advisor
- Enforcement and Removal Operations
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
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HSI is the primary investigative arm of Department of Homeland Security and consists of more than 10,300 employees who are assigned throughout 30 offices in the U.S. and 52 international offices (41 international sub-offices) around the world[when?].[citation needed] Approximately 6,000 HSI employees are special agents (criminal investigators), making it the second largest investigative service in the United States, behind the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).[85][better source needed]
HSI special agents investigate violations of more than 400 U.S. laws that threaten national security, including counter-proliferation; human smuggling and trafficking; weapons smuggling; narcotics smuggling and trafficking; human rights violations; transnational gang activity; financial crimes, including money laundering and bulk cash smuggling; cyber crime; child exploitation and sex tourism; trade crimes such as commercial fraud and intellectual property theft; smuggling of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and other merchandise; document and benefit fraud; the manufacturing, sale, and use of counterfeit immigration and identity documents; mass-marketing fraud; art theft; international cultural property and antiquities crimes; export enforcement and visa security.[86] HSI agents can be requested to provide security for VIPs, and also augment the U.S. Secret Service during overtaxed times such as special security events and elections.[citation needed]
HSI was formerly known as the ICE Office of Investigations. HSI special agents are Series 1811 criminal investigators and have the statutory authority to enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act (Title 8), U.S. customs laws (Title 19), general federal crimes (Title 18), the Controlled Substances Act (Title 21), with approval from the Department of Justice, as well as Titles 5, 6, 12, 22, 26, 28, 31, 46, 49, and 50 of the U.S. Code.[citation needed]
HSI Domestic Operations
The largest cadre of special agents are located within Domestic Operations.[87][better source needed] In FY 2020, HSI special agents made 31,915 criminal arrests, rescued or identified 1,012 child exploitation victims, and seized $341 million worth of counterfeit goods, 6,195 lbs of fentanyl and $1.8 billion in currency & assets from criminal organizations.[88][better source needed]
HSI combats child exploitation, including the sexual exploitation of children; the production, advertisement and distribution of child pornography; and child sex tourism. They also work to identify and arrest those possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material.[89][failed verification]
In 2006, Operation Flicker found that there were a number of government employees, including "dozens of Pentagon staff and contractors with high-level security clearance", who had downloaded child pornography.[90]
HSI Office of Intelligence
The Office of Intelligence employs a variety of special agents and intelligence research specialists to facilitate HSI's tactical and strategic intelligence demands. They collect, analyze, and disseminate information for use by the operational elements of DHS. The Office of Intelligence works closely with the intelligence components of other federal, state, and local agencies. Many HSI field offices assign intelligence analysts to specific groups, such as financial crimes, counter-proliferation, narcotics, or document fraud; or they can be assigned to a residential intelligence unit, known as a Field Intelligence Group (FIG). HSI agents assigned to FIGs generally focus on human intelligence (HUMINT) collection.[citation needed]
HSI International Operations
International Operations (IO), formerly known as the Office of International Affairs, is a subcomponent of HSI with agents stationed in 60 locations around the world. HSI's foreign offices, known as attaché offices, work with foreign governments to identify and combat transnational criminal organizations before they threaten the United States. IO also facilitates domestic HSI investigations by providing intelligence from host countries, conducting collateral investigations, and facilitating international investigations conducted by field offices within the U.S.[citation needed]
HSI Special Response Teams
Twenty HSI field offices maintain a Special Response Team (SRT) that operates as a federal SWAT element for each office's area of responsibility.[91][92] SRT was founded under the U.S. Customs Service as the Warrant Entry and Tactical Team and were renamed to SRT in 1998.[91] In 2003, the SRTs were established when ICE was established.[92] As of January 2020, ICE had 20 SRTs with 34 full-time duty officers and 269 collateral duty officers.[92]
The SRT handles HSI's high-risk arrest and search warrants, barricaded subjects, rural area operations, VIP protection, sniper coverage for high-risk operations, and security for designated National Security Events. Active SRTs are located in Tampa, Miami, Phoenix, New Orleans, Houston, New York, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Juan, Detroit, San Francisco, El Paso, Chicago, San Diego, Seattle, Buffalo, and Washington, D.C. There is also a team of instructors and coordinators stationed full-time in Columbus, Georgia. These teams primarily deploy to handle high-risk operations, but have also assisted in such events as Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake 2010, and other natural disasters around the globe.[citation needed]
SRT is a collateral duty open to HSI special agents assigned to an office with a certified team. To qualify, candidates must pass a physical fitness test, qualify with multiple firearms by shooting 90 per cent or better in full tactical gear, and pass an oral interview process. Candidates who pass these stages and are voted on the local team are then designated "Green Team" members and allowed to train with the certified team members. Green Team members are eventually sent to the SRT Initial Certification Course at the Office of Firearms and Tactical Programs, Tactical Operations Unit at Fort Benning, Georgia, where they must pass additional physical fitness, firearms, scenario-based and written assessments.[93][better source needed]
SRTs often conduct training exercises with various federal, state and local teams, and assist other teams during national events or large-scale operations involving multiple high-risk scenarios. The working relationship between the SRTs and the U.S. Department of Defense has led to U.S. Special Operations Command providing the SRTs with excess mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles (MRAPs), firearms, and other gear designed for use by U.S. special operations forces.[citation needed]
Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)
Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) primarily deals with the deportation and removal of undocumented immigrants. It is among the most public and contentious functions of ICE. ERO maintains custodial facilities used to detain people who are suspected to be illegally present in the United States and pose a reasonable threat to the safety of residents. In interior offices, ERO officers primarily conduct targeted enforcement operations to apprehend immigrants engaged in serious criminal activity. At border offices, ERO officers receive and detain undocumented immigrants apprehended by the United States Border Patrol.[94]
ERO is responsible for enforcing the nation's immigration laws and ensuring the departure of removable immigrants from the United States. ERO uses its detention and deportation officers to identify, arrest, and remove immigrants who violate U.S. immigration law, Deportation officers are responsible for the transportation and detention of immigrants in ICE custody to include the removal of immigrants to their country of origin, Deportation officers arrest immigrants for violations of U.S. immigration law, monitor cases during deportation proceedings, supervise released immigrants, and deportation of illegal immigrants from the United States.[95][better source needed]
Deportation officers operate strategically placed Fugitive Operations Teams whose function is to locate, apprehend, and remove immigrants who have absconded from immigration proceedings and remain in the United States with outstanding warrants for deportation. Due to limited staffing, ERO Fugitive Operations typically target undocumented immigrants with a history of serious criminal convictions (i.e. homicide, sexual assaults, aggravated felonies).[96][better source needed]
ERO manages the Secure Communities program which identifies removable immigrants located in jails and prisons. Fingerprints submitted as part of the normal criminal arrest and booking process will automatically check both the Next Generation Identification (NGI) of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division and the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) of the Department of Homeland Security's US-VISIT Program.[citation needed]
ERO was formerly known as the Office of Detention and Removal Operations (DRO).[citation needed]
Other ICE Divisions
The Office of State, Local and Tribal Coordination (OSLTC) is ICE's primary outreach and communications component for state, local and tribal stakeholders. It is responsible for building and improving relationships, and coordinating activities with state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies and through public engagement. It also fosters and sustains relationships with federal, state and local government officials and coordinates ICE ACCESS programs (Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security).[citation needed]
The Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) provides legal advice, training and services to support the ICE mission and defends the interests of the United States in the administrative and federal courts.[citation needed]
The Office of Professional Responsibility is responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct involving employees of ICE.[citation needed]
ICE Air is the aviation division of ICE that charters aircraft or books commercial flights to send deportees back to their home countries.[97][better source needed] [98] There are 10 aircraft used to send deportees and has a working list of 185 countries.[98] Deportees have legs and arms secured while boarding, handcuffs are removed during flight and all shackles removed upon disembarking.[citation needed]
ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC) is a division that is responsible for providing direct patient care to approximately 13,500 detainees housed in 21 detention facilities throughout the nation.[99][better source needed] Their stated mission is to provide the best care to those in ICE custody, practicing on the core values of Integrity, Commitment, Accountability, Service, and Excellence.[100][better source needed] The IHSC team is made up of around 1,000 members that consist of US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers, healthcare professionals, and federal civil service workers.[101][better source needed]
Former units
The Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) was aligned into ICE shortly after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. On October 16, 2005, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff officially approved the transfer of the Federal Air Marshal Service from the Bureau of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the TSA as part of a broader departmental reorganization to align functions consistent with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "Second Stage Review" findings for:[citation needed]
- consolidating and strengthening aviation law enforcement and security at the Federal level;
- creating a common approach to stakeholder outreach; and
- improving the coordination and efficiency of aviation security operations.
As part of this realignment, the director of the Federal Air Marshal Service also became the assistant administrator for the TSA Office of Law Enforcement (OLE), which houses nearly all TSA law enforcement services.[citation needed]
The Federal Protective Service (FPS) was moved from the General Services Administration (GSA) to ICE upon the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The FPS was later moved out of ICE to the National Protection Programs Directorate.[citation needed]
Originally a part of the U.S. Customs Service's Office of Investigations, the Office of Air and Marine (then called the Air and Marine Interdiction Division) were transferred to ICE in 2003 during the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, becoming the Office of Air and Marine Operations.[citation needed] Due in part to a 500 million dollar budgetary dispute between CBP and ICE, in 2004 ICE Air and Marine Operations were transferred to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP Air and Marine still works closely with ICE to support the agency's domestic and international law enforcement operations.[102][better source needed][103][104][better source needed][105]
The Office of Detention Policy and Planning was responsible for developing and maintaining ICE's National Detention Standards, which set out detailed rules for how immigration detainees were to be treated differently than criminal inmates.[106] In April 2017, President Donald Trump decided to close the office and to stop including the standards in new jail contracts.[106]
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Training
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Newly hired ICE law enforcement personnel receive their training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia. FLETC is the largest law enforcement training facility in the United States. To meet division specific academic and practical instruction, the ICE academies vary in length from 4 to 6 months depending on the position. Furthermore, following graduation, all ICE law enforcement personnel undergo additional post academy training, as well as career-continuous training.[citation needed]
HSI Special Agent trainees must complete the inter-agency Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP) and the HSI Special Agent Training Course (HSI SAT).[107][better source needed] HSI special agents also receive significantly advanced training regarding U.S. customs law, warrant service, advanced tactics, undercover operations, criminal interrogation, weapons of mass destruction, and other subjects routinely encountered by HSI special agents in the field. HSI Special Agents typically complete CITP in conjunction with other agencies (i.e. Secret Service, Diplomatic Security Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, and various Office of Inspector Generals, etc.). However, the agency specific HSI SAT course is only attended by HSI trainees and focuses on customs & immigration related investigations.[108][better source needed]
Prior to 2025, ERO Officer trainees had to complete the basic 13-week ERO academy.[109][better source needed] In 2025, ERO training was cut in half to run six days a week for eight weeks, with Spanish-language courses eliminated and academy training reduced to 47 days allegedly owing to Trump being the 47th president.[110]
Specific course curriculum is kept confidential, but both ERO officers and HSI special-agent new hires undergo training related to basic law enforcement tactics, immigration law, firearms training, emergency response driving, and Constitutional law.[citation needed]
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Weapons and equipment
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Firearms
The agency has a list of personally owned weapons that are authorized for duty and off duty carry. These weapons must be inspected and approved by the agency's firearms unit. The agent and/or officer must qualify with the weapon every three months.[113][better source needed] As non-lethal options, special agents and officers are armed with the expandable metal baton and pepper spray.[113][better source needed]
Technology
In 2025, it was reported that ICE began using a mobile application, the Mobile Fortify App, that can identify someone through facial recognition in the field.[114] The application pulls from two existing databases: the Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Traveler Verification Service and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Seizure and Apprehension Workflow.[114]
Data access
Efforts have been made to combine personal data from multiple federal agencies to support immigration enforcement. This included records from the SSA, IRS, OPM, HHS, and others.[115] It's been reported that the administration is using the data to detect visa overstays, identify undocumented individuals, and cross-reference benefits usage with immigration status.[116] ICE has also accessed a database of health and car insurance claims as part of the deportation effort.[117] Civil groups and several state attorneys general argue these practices violate the Privacy Act of 1974 by failing to publish legally required notices in the Federal Register.[118] In June 2025, twenty states filed lawsuits alleging that DOGE's access to Medicaid and benefit data was used to facilitate immigration raids, disproportionately impacting mixed-status families.[119]
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Immigration law
Immigration and Nationality Act Section 287(g) allows ICE to establish increased cooperation and communication with state, and local law enforcement agencies. Section 287(g) authorizes the secretary of homeland security to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies, permitting designated officers to perform immigration law enforcement functions, pursuant to a memorandum of agreement (MOA), provided that the local law enforcement officers receive appropriate training and function under the supervision of sworn U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Under 287(g), ICE provides state and local law enforcement with the training and subsequent authorization to identify, process, and when appropriate, detain immigration offenders they encounter during their regular, daily law-enforcement activity.[120][better source needed]
The 287(g) program is one of several ICE ACCESS (ICE "Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security") programs that increase collaboration between local law enforcement and immigration enforcement agents.[121][better source needed][better source needed]
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ERO detention centers
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ICE ERO operates detention centers throughout the United States that detain illegal immigrants who are apprehended and placed into removal proceedings. About 34,000 people are held in immigration detention on any given day,[122] in over 500 detention centers, jails, and prisons nationwide.[123] Those detained are both undocumented immigrants apprehended by ERO and other agencies such as Border Patrol.[citation needed]
Due to the United States detention bed quota, mandated by Congress, that number will increase rather than decrease. The quota mandates at least 34,000 beds available for immigrants on any given day.[124][125][better source needed] Under the Trump administration, the number of people being detained on any given day increased to 52,500 in early June 2019.[126]
Corporate contracts
Engineering and construction firm Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) released a press statement on January 24, 2006, that the company had been awarded a no-bid contingency contract from the Department of Homeland Security to support its ICE facilities in the event of an emergency. The maximum total value of the contract is $385 million and consists of a one-year base period with four one-year options. KBR held the previous ICE contract from 2000 through 2005. The contract provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to expand existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs. The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, the company said.[127]
Sexual abuse allegations
The Intercept published a report by the DHS Office of Inspector General revealing that 1,224 sexual abuse complaints while in immigration custody were filed between January 2010 and June 2017. Contrary to ICE's claims, only 2% of these complaints were investigated.[128][129] In 2020, the Kino Border Initiative received 442 reports of alleged abuse by US agents, meaning 18% of new arrivals were abused by a US official.[130]
Forced sterilization allegations
In 2020, multiple human rights groups joined a whistleblower to accuse a private-owned U.S. immigration detention centre in Georgia of forcibly sterilizing women. The reports claimed a doctor conducted unauthorized medical procedures on women detained by ICE.[131] The whistleblower, Dawn Wooten, was a nurse and former employee. She claims a high rate of sterilizations were performed on Spanish-speaking women and women who spoke various Indigenous languages common in Latin America. Wooten said the centre did not obtain proper consent for these surgeries, or lied to women about the medical procedures.
More than 40 women submitted testimony in writing to document these abuses, one attorney said.[132] Jerry Flores, a faculty member at the University of Toronto Mississauga said the alleged treatment of women constituted a violation of human rights and genocide according to the standards of the United Nations.[131] Just Security of the New York University School of Law said the U.S. bore "international responsibility for the forced sterilization of women in ICE detention".[133] In September 2020, Mexico demanded more information from US authorities on medical procedures performed on migrants in detention centers, after allegations that six Mexican women were sterilized without their consent. Another woman said she had undergone a gynecological operation, although there was nothing in her detention file to support she agreed to the procedure.[134]
Allegations of pork and expired meals to Muslim detainees
In 2020, CNN reported that Muslim detainees at a federal immigration facility in Miami, Florida, were repeatedly served pork or pork-based products against their religious beliefs, according to claims made by immigrant advocates.[135][136][137] There are dozens of Muslim detainees at the facility for whom it is religiously forbidden to consume pork, civil rights groups said in a letter to ICE and federal oversight agencies.[135] The Muslim detainees at the Krome detention facility in Miami were forced to accept pork because religiously compliant/halal meals that ICE served had been consistently rotten and expired.[135] In one instance, the Chaplain at Krome's allegedly dismissed pleas from Muslim detainees for help, saying, "It is what it is."[136]
A letter by civil rights lawyers stated "Many have suffered illness, like stomach pains, vomiting, and diarrhea, as a result."[136] A spokesman claimed that ICE did not deny any "reasonable and equitable opportunity for persons to observe their religious dietary practices." Representatives of the facility, including the chaplain did not respond to requests for comment.[137] Previously in 2019, a Pakistani-born man with a valid American work permit was reportedly given nothing but pork sandwiches for six consecutive days.[136]
Wrongful detentions
From 2012 to early 2018, ICE wrongfully arrested and detained 1,480 U.S. citizens, including many who spent months or years in immigration detention.[138] A 2018 Los Angeles Times investigation found that ICE's reliance on incomplete and error-prone databases and lax investigations led to the erroneous detentions.[138] From 2008 to 2018, ICE was sued for wrongful arrest by more than two dozen U.S. citizens, who had been detained for periods ranging from one day to over three years. Some of the wrongfully detained U.S. citizens had been arrested by ICE more than once.[138] The inaccurate government data that ICE used had shown that both immigrants and U.S. citizens were both targets of being detained. In 2019, a U.S. citizen that was detained stated that he lost 26 pounds from the horrendous conditions that the detention center offered.[139]
Separation of migrant children from families
As part of the 2018 Trump administration's zero tolerance policy, nearly 3,000[140] minors were separated from their parents, or the adults accompanying them, while trying to illegally cross the U.S.–Mexico border and placed in detention camps.[141][142] Rolling Stone likened these centers to "prisons" while The Houston Chronicle reported that a movement swelled online to call them "concentration camps."[143][144] Similarly, former first lady of the United States Laura Bush compared the images of the centers to U.S. Japanese internment camps during the Second World War.[145] 16 out of 34[146] of the centers located in Texas had previously been cited by Texas officials for more than 150 health violations.[147][relevant?] The former head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, John Sandweg, was critical of child separation, telling NBC News, "You could easily end up in a situation where the gap between a parent's deportation and a child's deportation is years," and that many children might never see their parents again.[148]
Detained children have also been given up for adoption. In a series of court cases, foster families were successfully able to gain full custody of migrant children that they were housing without notifying their parents.[149] Most notably, the agency Bethany Christian Services, an agency that facilitates the care of foster children in Michigan has been criticized for promoting adoption of migrant children instead of trying to reunite them with their families. In a previous Facebook post, they had waived the previous $550 international adoption application fee for the month of June.[150] This had led to public outcry and protests have been held against this agency and their practices.[151]
This policy in particular has led to the Abolish ICE movement gaining traction in June 2018.
In The Undocumented Americans, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio describes individuals who experienced persistent fear that any knock at the door could signal the arrival of ICE agents to detain them. She recounts cases of people installing security cameras and avoiding answering the door to protect themselves and their families.[152]
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Sanctuary cities
Summarize
Perspective
Sanctuary cities are cities that limit their cooperation with ICE ERO, particularly in regards to illegal migrants arrested for state criminal violations. When an illegal immigrant is arrested by state or local police for criminal offenses, their information is placed into a federal database that ERO officers can access. In a non-sanctuary city, ERO Officers can ask the police to hold that person after they would normally have been released until ERO can pick them up.[153][better source needed] However, sanctuary cities believe this is unconstitutional and view being an illegal immigrant as not a crime but a civil violation. As such, policies or ordinances in these cities prevent the police from continuing to hold a person based on an ERO request if that person was otherwise cleared for release.[154][better source needed]
Sanctuary cities were one of the many focal points for the Trump administration's attempts to reform the country's immigration policies. In early 2017, President Trump issued an executive order to deny sanctuary cities federal grants if they did not comply with ICE.[155][better source needed] By November 2017, this order was struck down by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.[156] Despite this, the Trump administration continued to seek ways to challenge sanctuary cities, such as implementing a policy that preferentially awards policing grants that cooperate with ICE.[157]
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Criticism
Summarize
Perspective
2017–2021: First Trump administration
Numerous protests emerged across the nation in response to the first Trump administration's ICE policies. Many of the protesters occupied areas around ICE facilities in hopes of disrupting operations. The Occupy ICE movement began on June 17, 2018, outside Portland, Oregon. It initially began as a vigil for the people suffering from ICE policies but spontaneously grew into a larger movement as more people showed up. The movement ultimately spread into other major cities like Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego, and New York. As the movement grew, they faced counter protesters and arrests, but protesters remained undeterred and vowed to continue fighting the Trump administration's ICE policies. As Occupy ICE groups spread to different cities, there has also been a greater amount of coordination between them.[158] Other grassroots protests have sprung up across the nation as well. On August 1, 2019, a month-long peaceful protest event was started outside the San Francisco ICE office, where protesters beat drums and demanded that family separation at the border be stopped.[159] In addition to blocking ICE facilities, protesters are also protesting technology companies such as Microsoft for providing technology to aid ICE. One such instance of this was the sit-in at the Microsoft store on 5th Avenue in NYC led by Close the Camps NYC on September 14, 2019.[160] In the 2020 protests and riots in Portland, Oregon, the local ICE office had its window broken.[161]
In addition to protests, some Democratic lawmakers and progressive figures called for the abolition of ICE, and an overhaul of the United States immigration system.[21][34]
2025–present: Second Trump administration
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Demonstrations emerged nationwide in 2025 against ICE's immigration enforcement activity and policies.[53][54][55][56][57] In June 2025, ICE raids in Los Angeles sparked protests that Reuters described as the strongest domestic backlash to Trump since he took office in January.[162] In response to ICE raids in Los Angeles, federal judges found that ICE was engaging in racial profiling, and ICE ignored a court order to stop its activities in LA.[49]
ICE's aggressive policing tactics and arrests by masked agents in public areas were frequently captured on cameras by bystanders, often leading to accusations of "kidnapping" and were criticized as intentionally seeking to spread fear.[163] ICE's use of masks and balaclavas, military-style tactical gear, and lack of visible identification and uniforms were criticized as intimidation tactics and raised concerns over a lack of accountability.[164][165] Legal and law enforcement experts described ICE's use of plainclothes arrests as resulting in a spike of ICE impersonators being arrested across the country.[166] The Guardian described criticism of ICE as being portrayed as a "rogue agency" that does Trump's bidding. It described the lines between federal law enforcement and Trump's private armed force as becoming blurred.[167] It wrote that:
In the public consciousness, Ice has become defined as Trump's personal rogue agency doing his bidding regardless of accepted norms and laws. They have become a kind of domestic enforcer for Maga's agenda, rounding up "illegals" and deporting what they say are criminals to El Salvador, to face justice in a place without trials. When Trump promised "retribution" in the lead-up to his second presidency, activists say these are now the soldiers carrying it out.[167]
The Atlantic described ICE's lowering of recruitment standards, such as reducing the age to join to 18 years among other efforts as resulting in new recruits "seeing the position not as a federal-law-enforcement career but as a chance to serve as a foot soldier in Trump's mission to bring sweeping social and demographic change"; describing its rapid buildup as a result of Trump officials wanting to "change the agency's character by flooding it with new hires who are inspired by MAGA ideology rather than by the typical perks of a federal badge". It also highlighted existing conservative ICE agents worried that "a historic chance to reform the agency will be squandered by incompetence and shady deals with well-connected contractors".[110]
Existing ICE agents interviewed by The Atlantic described low-morale from overwork, describing them as being "vilified by broad swaths of the public and bullied by Trump officials demanding more and more". Agents within ICE's HSI division criticized the shelving of new cases on drugs, human smuggling, and child exploitation in order to make immigration-enforcement arrests. Several career officers were pushed out of leadership roles or quit among several purges of staff. Some ICE officers were described as being "thrilled" by recent changes and the ability to not worry about being too aggressive, while others were disturbed of videos of "officers smashing suspects' car windows and appearing to round up people indiscriminately" as making ICE a "caricature" of itself.[81]
Writing for Politico, Joshua Zeitz described ICE as transforming "into a massive, un-uniformed, masked domestic army" that "critics fear will have carte blanche to arrest, detain and deport persons without cause or due process, whether they enjoy legal status or not". He added that its aggressive tactics risked backfiring on the administration, and compared increasing agitation over immigration arrests to violent responses among previously uninterested citizens following the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.[168] As early as April 2025, public sentiment shifted against deportations, with a majority of Americans finding the amount went "too far",[169][170][171] and Gallup polling showing positive views of immigration as increasing "significantly".[172]
Data collection
ICE has been criticized for its deal with Paragon Solutions, a spyware company whose tool, Graphite, enables remote access to mobile phones, including encrypted apps. The $2 million contract, initially signed under the Biden administration but paused under a 2023 executive order restricting spyware linked to misuse abroad, was reactivated in 2025 by the second Trump administration. Paragon faced scrutiny after its software was reportedly used to target journalists, migrant advocates, and associates of Pope Francis in Italy. Civil liberties advocates, including Senator Ron Wyden, warned of threats to due process and human rights. Senator Wyden expressed concern about potential abuses, stating he had requested a briefing from ICE and was “extremely concerned about how ICE will use Paragon’s spyware to further trample on the rights of Americans and anyone who Donald Trump labels as an enemy.” Michael De Dora, U.S. Policy and Advocacy Manager at Access Now, stated that the technology has been misused globally to target human rights defenders and dissidents, and warned of serious risks of domestic repression.[173][174] The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.) also criticized the move, citing a lack of legal safeguards and potential harm to privacy, immigrant communities, and democratic oversight.[175][176]
Concerns were raised over a $30 million no-bid contract awarded to Palantir Technologies to develop "ImmigrationOS," a data system designed to help ICE prioritize deportations by merging government and private data. While aimed at targeting visa overstayers and alleged gang members, civil rights advocates warned the system could easily be repurposed to surveil or target U.S. citizens, including political opponents of President Trump. Trump had reportedly suggested removing not just immigrants but also U.S. citizens deemed dangerous and said he ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate. Cooper Quintin, Senior Staff Technologist at the EFF, cautioned that the system’s extensive data aggregation capabilities could be misused by authorities to prosecute individuals based on selective criteria, raising serious privacy and civil rights concerns.[177]
Publicity campaign
An ICE recruitment poster posted by Homeland Security on X on August 11, 2025 featured the caption "Which way, American man?", a reference to the 1978 book Which Way Western Man? which depicts Jews, Black people, and nonwhite immigrants as an existential threat to the United States.[110]
An anti-immigrant World War II-style propaganda poster posted by Homeland Security on X on June 11, 2025, telling readers to report "foreign invaders" to ICE during the Los Angeles protests. The poster was previously circulated by far-right accounts.[178]
The agency's aggressive and meme-heavy publicity campaign was run by political appointees in their 20s, and received criticism from political commentators and scholars for being unprofessional and intentionally cruel.[179][180]
The Atlantic interviewed current and former ICE officials who criticized a flashy video posted by ICE with rap music, Trump's name, and vehicles with wrappings the color of Trump's private plane costing roughly $100,000 each (with plans to wrap 2,000 more) as "the transformation of ICE from an agency focused on legalistic immigration procedures into a political instrument and propaganda tool."[110] The campaign noticeably re-used WWII-era US propaganda posters, several of which had text that suggested the goal of deportations was to protect American culture, and several of which were accused of promoting white nationalism by scholars and historians or were previously promoted by far-right accounts.[181] The Southern Poverty Law Center found the DHS using "white nationalist and anti-immigrant images and slogans in recruitment materials" for ICE and that some "images and language appear to come directly from antisemitic and neo-Nazi publications and a white Christian nationalist website".[182]
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See also
- Asylum shopping
- Dillingham Commission
- Diplomatic Security Service (DSS)—U.S. Department of State
- Drug Enforcement Administration
- Federal Air Marshal Service
- Federal Protective Service (U.S.)
- List of ICE field offices
- List of United States federal law enforcement agencies
- Monopoly on violence
- Operation Devil Horns
- Operation Endgame
- Operation Front Line
- Operation Protect Our Children
- Operation Tangled Web
- Title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations
- United States Border Patrol
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection
- United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
- U.S. Marshals Service
- U.S. Secret Service
- Jaime Zapata (U.S. agent)
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References
External links
Wikiwand - on
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