The FBI will stop investigating assault claims against ICE agents, per NYT. DHS would handle probes, raising accountability questions after seven fatal shootings since January.
The FBI will no longer investigate claims of assault against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, according to a report from The New York Times. FBI managers received written notice of the change Thursday, sources told the paper. Some ICE agents across the country were informed by their FBI counterparts, the report said.
The shift effectively hands investigations of such incidents to Homeland Security Investigations, a unit within ICE. Allowing the Department of Homeland Security to handle those probes could reduce accountability for immigration agents, the sources said. DHS lacks jurisdiction to investigate civil rights violations, making it less likely that agents who shoot unarmed people face federal scrutiny.
The Justice Department and DHS denied any change in oversight. “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,” the two agencies said in a joint statement provided to CNBC. The statement did not address the written notice described by the Times.
The reported change follows a series of fatal ICE shootings. On July 7, an agent shot and killed Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston. Days later, an agent killed Colombian national Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. Those were among at least seven fatal shootings by ICE agents since January, according to the Times.
Under the previous arrangement, the FBI determined whether agents were assaulted before opening fire. Evidence from those inquiries could later be used in civil rights cases against ICE agents. The new guidance would remove that layer of outside review.
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