FBI to cease investigations into ICE confrontations
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In a major policy shift that has sparked immediate pushback from civil rights advocates, the FBI has notified US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that it will no longer investigate claims of assault against the federal immigration officers, according to a report published by The New York Times.
The new directive, which was reportedly distributed in a written notice to FBI managers, alters decades of established inter-agency procedure. Some ICE agents across the country have already been notified of the operational changes by their local FBI counterparts.
Accountability gap
Historically, when an ICE agent was involved in a fatal shooting, the FBI under the Trump administration was tasked with evaluating whether the agent had been assaulted prior to opening fire.
However, the evidence gathered during those independent FBI investigations often served a dual purpose, frequently providing the foundation for subsequent civil rights investigations or federal prosecutions against the agents themselves.
Under the new guidelines, assault claims made by immigration officers will likely be handled internally by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), an arm of ICE.
Sources who spoke to The New York Times warned that allowing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to handle these investigations will deeply undermine transparency and lead to far less accountability for immigration agents.
Because DHS does not possess the specific jurisdiction required to investigate federal civil rights violations, critics argue the policy shift drastically reduces the likelihood that ICE agents who shoot unarmed individuals will ever face independent scrutiny for breaking federal law.
Agencies issue blanket denial
Despite widespread internal reporting of the directive, both the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security have firmly denied that any administrative change in oversight has taken place.
In a joint statement provided to CNBC, the agencies pushed back on the report:
“The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security are partners in addressing crime and upholding the rule of law, while securing the safety and security of American communities,” the DHS and DOJ statement read. “The relationship between DHS and DOJ in investigating assault on federal officer cases has not changed, and FBI will continue to investigate in accordance with agency policy.”
Backdrop of escalating violence
The reported rollback of outside oversight comes amid an intense public spotlight on ICE’s use of force. The policy change was disclosed just days after an ICE agent shot and killed a 26-year-old Colombian man, Joan Sebastian Guerrero, during an operation in Biddeford, Maine.
Guerrero's death marked the seventh fatal shooting by ICE agents since January 2025, and the second high-profile killing in July alone.
Just six days prior, on July 7, an immigration agent shot and killed a Mexican immigrant, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, during a targeted enforcement operation in Houston, Texas.
Critics contend that withdrawing the FBI from these scenes at a moment of rising fatalities will create an un-checked environment of immunity for federal immigration forces.
