FBI will no longer investigate ICE Agent assaults
AlterNet reports
The fox is now the henhouse’s independent oversight body.
According to a New York Times report, ICE agents have been told the FBI will no longer investigate claims of assault against federal officers. On Thursday, FBI managers reportedly received written notice of the change, and some ICE agents around the country were informed by their FBI counterparts.
When ICE agents are involved in fatal shootings, the FBI has been tasked with determining whether the agent was assaulted before firing. Evidence from those probes could later be used in civil rights investigations or prosecutions.
Under the new guidance, Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of ICE, would investigate assault claims made by ICE’s own agents. DHS does not have jurisdiction to investigate civil rights violations. So an ICE agent who shoots an unarmed person becomes markedly less likely to be investigated for breaking federal law.
The change was reported just days after an ICE agent shot and killed a Colombian man, Joan Sebastian Guerrero, in Biddeford, Maine. He was at least the seventh person shot by ICE agents since January 2025. He was the second this month.
The fox is now the henhouse’s independent oversight body.
According to a New York Times report, ICE agents have been told the FBI will no longer investigate claims of assault against federal officers. On Thursday, FBI managers reportedly received written notice of the change, and some ICE agents around the country were informed by their FBI counterparts.
When ICE agents are involved in fatal shootings, the FBI has been tasked with determining whether the agent was assaulted before firing. Evidence from those probes could later be used in civil rights investigations or prosecutions.
Under the new guidance, Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of ICE, would investigate assault claims made by ICE’s own agents. DHS does not have jurisdiction to investigate civil rights violations. So an ICE agent who shoots an unarmed person becomes markedly less likely to be investigated for breaking federal law.
The change was reported just days after an ICE agent shot and killed a Colombian man, Joan Sebastian Guerrero, in Biddeford, Maine. He was at least the seventh person shot by ICE agents since January 2025. He was the second this month.
