Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer badge.
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The New York Times reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were recently told that the FBI would no longer investigate allegations of assault against federal employees.
FBI administrators received written notice of the change on Thursday, and some ICE agents across the country were notified by FBI officials, sources told the Times.
In cases involving fatal shootings of ICE agents, the FBI under the Trump administration is tasked with determining whether the agent was assaulted before firing. However, evidence uncovered during these investigations could later be used in civil rights investigations and prosecutions against ICE agents.
The new guidance will likely mean that Homeland Security Investigations, a division of ICE, will investigate allegations of such assaults by its own agents, the newspaper said. Officials told the NYT that having DHS handle these investigations could reduce liability for immigration officials.
Because DHS does not have the authority to investigate civil rights violations, the policy change could make it less likely that ICE agents who shoot and kill unarmed people will be investigated for federal violations.
Both the Justice Department and DHS deny that there have been any changes to their oversight structure.
“The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security are partners in combating crime and upholding the rule of law while ensuring the safety and security of the American community,” the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Homeland Security said in a joint statement provided to CNBC.
“The relationship between DHS and the Department of Justice in investigating assaults on federal employees remains unchanged, and the FBI will continue to investigate in accordance with agency policy.”
The move, described as a change in oversight, comes days after ICE agents shot and killed Colombian man João Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. This is at least the seventh person to be shot dead by ICE agents since January 2025, and the second this month after an agent shot and killed Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on July 7.
Read the full New York Times report here.
