USA19 July, 20262 min read
FBI Tells Agents To Stop Investigating ICE Confrontations, Memo Says
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FBI will no longer investigate confrontations involving ICE agents per NYT report Move would significantly reduce oversight of immigration agents if implemented
FBI ends ICE assault probes
Federal agents were told the FBI will no longer investigate confrontations involving immigration officers, a change described in a New York Times report and echoed by NBC News as directives to stop opening assault-on-federal-officer investigations involving ICE. The New York Times report said the memo told FBI agents they would no longer investigate claims of assault against DHS agents, and that written notice had been sent on Thursday while some ICE agents were informed the same day.
NBC News reported that the FBI and DHS denied the policy change, saying in a joint statement that anyone who assaulted law enforcement would be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” The dispute is framed against recent fatal ICE shootings, including an ICE agent shot and killed two people in Texas and Maine during enforcement operations, according to the Straight Arrow report.
Body cameras and denials
ICE will require its officers to record vehicle stops with at least one body camera, Tom Homan, the Trump administration “border czar,” said on the Fox & Friends Weekend program. Homan argued that “They exonerate more law enforcement than they convict, and I want officers to wear body cameras because I want the American people to see what the officers saw when they took that action,” linking the measure to renewed scrutiny after ICE officers fatally shot two men six days apart in Texas and Maine.
The Guardian reported that there is no body-camera footage from the ICE agents involved in those incidents, and it tied the controversy to the killings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford. In parallel, the Justice Department and DHS denied any change in oversight, with the joint statement saying, “The relationship between D.H.S. and D.O.J. in investigating assault on federal officer cases has not changed, and F.B.I. will continue to investigate in accordance with agency policy.”
Accountability and who investigates
The New York Times report, as described by CNBC, said the FBI’s role in investigating assault claims could shift to Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of ICE, after FBI managers received written notice on Thursday. CNBC reported that the new guidance would likely mean Homeland Security Investigations would investigate assault claims by their own agents, and that sources warned this could lead to less accountability because DHS does not have jurisdiction to investigate civil rights violations.
The Verge characterized the change as leaving ICE to investigate itself, saying it would “leave little chance of agents being held accountable,” while Telemundo warned that the directive could affect accountability for immigration agents as outrage follows deaths from officers’ gunfire. The stakes are illustrated in the cases tied to the policy debate, including Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas, where the Guardian said there were no body-camera recordings from the involved ICE officers.