In the United States, immigration police killed two civilians in a month. What you need to know about ICE

The scandals surrounding the immigration and customs police have been going on in the United States for the past month. Its employees, who are authorized to carry out deportations of migrants, are regularly accused of abuse of authority and violence against civilians. The police received a noticeable boost during President Donald Trump's second term, which sparked a series of protests across the country. What powers this law enforcement agency has and what tragic incidents its work has led to can be found in the Izvestia article.

How ICE appeared

• Migration issues in the United States have been shifting from one agency to another for a long time. Over the years, they were managed by the Ministries of Finance, Labor and Justice. The decades-old order changed after the September 11, 2001 attacks. In response, President George W. Bush announced plans to reform the regulation of national security issues. As a result, in 2003, a new federal agency was formed, which is traditionally called the Ministry of Internal Security, although in a more accurate translation its name sounds like the "Ministry of Homeland Security." Thus, it was emphasized that the new agency would deal, among other things, with the persecution of those for whom the United States is not their native country.

• The creation of the Department of Homeland Security has become the most significant restructuring in the executive branch of the United States since the formation of the Department of Defense in 1949 (we have described the history of this department here). 22 different departments were selected from other departments and merged into the new structure. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has become one of the agencies within the ministry, which must enforce law and order in its field. The US Border and Customs Service has become another armed agency parallel to ICE.

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• In turn, ICE received two divisions: the Internal Security Investigations Service (HSI) and the Law Enforcement and Removal Service (ERO). The first deals with the investigation of serious transnational crimes such as terrorism, smuggling and fraud. The second specializes in the deportation and expulsion of migrants, including those detained by the border and customs service. It is ERO that is usually associated with all ICE activities and causes the most controversy in American society.

What powers does ICE have?

• ICE employees belonging to the ERO unit ensure that migrants who are subject to deportation leave the United States. They have the right to conduct targeted operations to detain and expel migrants who either do not have legal status or have been convicted of crimes. ICE does not have specific regulations on which offenses can be used to deport migrants. Due to the limited number of employees (about 20,000), "preference" is given to migrants who commit violent crimes using weapons.

• In their work, ICE officers use the instructions of other US federal law enforcement agencies and do not search for suspects on their own. For their work, they receive information about suspects and their fingerprints from the police. The agency also has information about migrants who are held in correctional institutions, having the opportunity to detain them after their release. ICE has the right to arrest migrants on the street and in public places, but they need a court order to enter a private home. In limited cases, department employees can also detain US citizens if they interfere with their activities.

• ICE officers responsible for deportations are allowed to carry service semi-automatic pistols, an M4 assault rifle and a Remington 870 shotgun. They also have the opportunity to use personal weapons that have been previously approved for official duties. ICE officers use batons and pepper spray as non-lethal means.

What is ICE criticized for?

• The activities of ICE began to be actively discussed during the first presidential term of Donald Trump. In 2017, the practice of separating migrant children from their parents began to spread in ICE detention centers as part of a campaign to prevent illegal border crossings. After publicity and a series of protests, Trump banned family separation.

• At the beginning of his second term, Trump increased funding for ICE and began to actively use this agency to fulfill his promise to combat illegal migration. In order to replenish the ranks of the department, the criteria for admission to the service were lowered and the training time was shortened. Massive ICE raids took place in various US cities, which provoked a negative reaction from local residents and led to protests. ICE officers were accused of abuse of authority, violation of procedures during detention, the use of masks and balaclavas, as well as the unjustified use of weapons.

• In December 2025, Operation Metro Surge was launched to identify and deport illegal migrants in the state of Minnesota and its largest city, Minneapolis. About 3,000 people were arrested during the raid, and ICE's actions were accompanied by a number of incidents, the most high-profile of which was the murder of a woman, Renee Goode, in early January. The arrest of a five-year-old boy from Ecuador and the gunshot wound of a man from Venezuela also attracted public attention. On January 24, Border Patrol officers, also involved in the ICE raid, shot and killed nurse Alex Pretty. Each such incident led to new waves of protest against ICE and calls to dissolve the agency.