FBI managers received written notice Thursday that the FBI will no longer investigate claims that federal officers were assaulted in incidents involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Two people familiar with the directives said special agents in charge of FBI field offices and agents in those field offices were told Thursday that the FBI would no longer investigate cases of assault against a federal officer.
Some ICE agents were informed by their FBI counterparts, and the DHS and Justice Department denied any change, saying in a joint statement, "The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security are partners in addressing crime and upholding the rule of law, while securing the safety and security of American communities. 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."
Under the Trump administration, the FBI had been tasked with determining whether agents were assaulted before opening fire, and evidence revealed during those investigations could later be used in civil rights investigations or prosecutions against ICE agents.
The guidance would likely mean Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of ICE, would investigate such assault claims by their own agents, a change that sources said could lead to less accountability for immigration agents.
Since DHS does not have the jurisdiction to investigate civil rights violations, the policy change could lessen the likelihood that ICE agents who shoot unarmed people would be investigated for breaking federal law.
The purported change in oversight comes just days after an ICE agent shot and killed Colombian man Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine; he was at least the seventh person shot by ICE agents since January 2025, and the second person just this month after an agent shot and killed Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on July 7.