New York Times: FBI told to stop ICE assault probes

Federal agents were told the F.B.I. will no longer investigate assault claims involving immigration officers, the New York Times first reported, with Homeland Security Investigations expected to take the lead. The Justice and Homeland Security departments deny any policy change even as field emails describe the directive.

Key Takeaways

• The New York Times reported that F.B.I. managers received written notice Thursday that the bureau would stop investigating assault claims against Department of Homeland Security agents.
• CBS News reviewed emails saying those probes would be deferred to Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of ICE, including cases that end in agent-involved shootings.
• DOJ and DHS issued a joint denial, saying the investigative relationship has not changed and the F.B.I. will continue to investigate under agency policy.
• The reported shift follows fatal ICE shootings in Houston and Biddeford, Maine, and raises questions about independent scrutiny of immigration officers.

What were federal agents told last week?

According to the New York Times, federal agents around the country were told in recent days that the F.B.I. would no longer investigate confrontations with immigration agents. People briefed on the decision said those cases sometimes yield evidence that could be used to prosecute Department of Homeland Security agents implicated in violent encounters.

F.B.I. managers received a written notice of the change on Thursday, the Times reported, citing people familiar with internal communications who spoke on condition of anonymity. The same day, some ICE agents were notified by their F.B.I. counterparts.

CBS News, which said the change was first reported by the New York Times, reviewed emails advising F.B.I. officials and HSI special agents that the bureau would defer all assault-on-federal-officer inquiries involving DHS agents to HSI. One email asked F.B.I. field offices to compile lists of existing investigations involving assaults on federal officers from DHS.

A Thursday email to HSI agents in one field office, reviewed by CBS News, said the guidance covers everything from minor assaults on DHS employees to agent-involved shootings. Sources told CBS the directive went to F.B.I. field-office leaders last week and was reiterated on Monday after public denials.

Why would shifting cases to HSI matter?

Under the reported guidance, responsibility for cases involving federal immigration officers would likely fall to Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of ICE. That would effectively leave the agency investigating incidents involving its own agents, according to guidance described by the Times and CBS News.

Assault-on-federal-officer investigations are meant to determine whether officers were attacked. The Times noted they can also gather evidence implicating the agents themselves, including material useful for future civil-rights cases or prosecutions of an ICE agent.

Homeland Security Investigations does not have jurisdiction to investigate civil-rights violations, the Times reported. Putting the change into practice would make it far less likely that shootings of unarmed people by ICE agents would be examined to determine whether agents broke federal law, people familiar with the matter told the paper.

CBS News has previously reported that HSI is not typically tasked with officer-involved shootings and is not structured to handle core elements such as ballistics analysis, forensic processing, firearm examinations, video review, and large-scale witness canvassing. In the email CBS reviewed, a local HSI official voiced concerns about needing more training and resources for serious cases.

The F.B.I. would still provide resources and assistance upon request, according to that email and a source with direct knowledge cited by CBS News. The abrupt shift prompted hours-long calls with F.B.I. special agents in charge, U.S. attorneys, HSI leaders, and the DHS inspector general's office, the email showed.

How did DOJ and DHS respond to the reports?

A joint statement from the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security denied that any such change was underway. "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," the agencies said. "This administration has been clear, anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

CBS News reported that both departments also posted on X calling media reports about changes to how assault investigations involving DHS agents would be handled "false." A Justice Department official told CBS on Monday morning that the F.B.I. was unaware of any such guidance being distributed to field offices.

Later Monday evening, however, CBS reviewed the additional Thursday HSI email. Several sources confirmed to CBS that the policy shift had been communicated to F.B.I. field offices last week. Spokespeople for DOJ, the F.B.I., and DHS did not immediately answer additional CBS follow-ups.

The New Republic, summarizing the New York Times reporting, noted the administration's push to charge people who "forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates or interferes" with immigration agents with felony assault punishable by up to eight years. The Times reported the administration had filed charges against more than 550 people for assaulting federal officers, and that of more than 400 resolved cases, nearly half had unraveled.

What recent fatal encounters frame this dispute?

The reported guidance comes after two fatal shootings by ICE agents in Texas and Maine within about two weeks. On July 7 in Houston, an ICE agent killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the United States for more than three decades, during a traffic stop while driving to work with passengers. Federal officials later acknowledged he was not the target of the ICE operation, the Times reported.

In Biddeford, Maine, an ICE agent shot and killed a Colombian man who was also in a vehicle. The Times identified him as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, citing a spokesman for Sen. Angus King. The New Republic identified the victim as Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, 26, and said he was legally in the United States and driving with his three-year-old daughter.

CBS News noted the F.B.I. earlier surged resources in Minnesota over alleged assaults on immigration officers; some cases were later dismissed. After the fatal encounter involving Renee Good, DOJ pressure to treat the matter as an assault on a federal officer rather than a civil-rights investigation into her killing prompted resignations by several prosecutors and an F.B.I. agent, CBS reported.

When HSI led the federal probe into the January fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis with F.B.I. help, the arrangement raised questions among current and former officials. After concerns, the F.B.I. and the Civil Rights Division were ordered to take the lead; that investigation remains ongoing, CBS said.

Readers tracking how sudden policy shifts reshape risk and public accountability can also follow related explainers in our Wealth Hacks & Passive Income section. For the primary account of the Thursday notices and the agencies' denial, see the New York Times report linked above, with corroborating detail from CBS News emails and The New Republic's summary of the same dispute.