Questions Emerge Over FBI Role in Investigations Involving ICE Agents
A New York Times report says Federal Bureau of Investigation managers were notified Thursday that the agency would no longer investigate allegations that people assaulted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. According to unnamed sources cited by the newspaper, some ICE personnel nationwide received similar information from FBI counterparts.
Under existing arrangements described in the report, the FBI has examined fatal shootings involving ICE agents to determine whether officers faced assault before using deadly force. Information uncovered in those inquiries could also support separate civil rights reviews or potential prosecutions of agents.
The Times reported that Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE division, may instead handle assault claims involving immigration officers. Critics cited by the newspaper said internal DHS investigations could reduce independent scrutiny. Because DHS lacks authority to investigate federal civil rights violations, they argued the shift might also make federal investigations of shootings involving unarmed people less likely.
The Justice Department and DHS dispute that any policy change occurred. In a joint statement, the departments said their partnership remains intact and that the FBI will continue investigating assaults on federal officers in accordance with agency policy. The statement did not confirm the specific internal communications described by the Times. No public documentation confirming the reported directive was included in the accounts.
The report follows two deadly ICE shootings in July. An agent killed Colombian man Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, days after another agent killed Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on July 7. Guerrero was reportedly at least the seventh person shot by ICE agents since January 2025. These incidents have intensified attention on how shootings involving federal immigration officers are reviewed and which agencies are responsible for determining whether criminal or civil rights violations occurred.