Fake ICE agents terrorize immigrants amid Trump’s crackdown

A Christ figurine watches over the door as the man secures the bolts and bars that protect his home. If the locks fail, a host of archangels, holy cards and crosses stand guard on nearby walls and tables. “Most people don’t live like I do,” said the Mexican immigrant, who didn’t want to give his name out of fear for his safety. “I know they’re just pieces of wood or little locks, but they help me because I feel a little safer.” He said nights have haunted him since Jan. 20, 2025. That was when a group of assailants entered a house he shared with other immigrants in Greensboro, North Carolina, and a hooded man shouting “ICE! ICE!” kicked down his bedroom door. “I raised my hands, and he asked, ‘Where’s the money?’ That’s when I realized it was a robbery. It wasn’t ICE. It wasn’t the police,” the Mexican immigrant said. The assault, which local police have not yet solved and for which no arrests have been made, happened the same day Donald Trump returned to the White House for his second term, vowing to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in the nation’s history. Since then, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has swelled by thousands of agents and has carried out waves of arrests and deportations in cities across the country. Although neither the federal government nor local authorities publish specific records of people impersonating immigration agents, an analysis by Noticias Telemundo, based on court records, police reports and news articles, suggests that the number of such crimes has increased over the past year. Our investigation documented at least 31 cases in 2025 alone — a sharp increase compared to an average of 5.3 incidents per year in the previous decade. Overall, we identified 84 instances of impostors posing as immigration agents between 2014 and 2025. In the case of the Mexican immigrant, he said at least four assailants robbed him and the other immigrants in the house at gunpoint. He was struck in the head with a weapon; another immigrant who lived in the house said his forehead was split open with the butt of a gun; it required more than 10 stitches and staples. The assailants also pointed a gun at a baby as they demanded money from the infant’s parents, the immigrants said. The immigrants said they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between assailants posing as ICE agents and real agents, “because now they all come hooded,” one of them said. As of February, Noticias Telemundo had documented at least six cases of impostors posing as ICE agents to rob or harass immigrants. In mid-January, a man broke into a house in Pittsburgh claiming to be an ICE agent and threatening a teen with a knife. In February, police in San Diego said a man allegedly impersonated an officer and wrapped his arms around the neck of a restaurant manager, claiming the manager was in the country illegally and he was going to arrest him. Of the 31 impersonation cases documented in 2025, 84% involved individuals who claimed to be ICE agents. Others identified themselves as officers from Border Patrol or the Department of Homeland Security. Among the incidents reviewed, the level of violence also appears to have increased. Between 2014 and 2024, an average of 23% of documented cases each year involved violent acts; in 2025, that figure rose to 38%. The recorded incidents include intimidation, robbery and sexual assault, as well as so-called “immigration operations” carried out by armed vigilantes against what they describe as an “invasion” of foreigners in the U.S. According to an internal security bulletin obtained by Noticias Telemundo, the FBI warned in October that criminals were “taking advantage of ICE’s higher public profile and media coverage to target vulnerable communities and commit criminal activity.” That bulletin flagged at least five incidents involving fake ICE agents between January and August 2025 — including an unreported case in New York where three men in black clothing robbed a restaurant ATM and tied up two people, putting a trash bag over one and kicking the other. Neither DHS nor ICE responded to Noticias Telemundo’s request for official statistics about cases of fake ICE agents. They also did not comment on the trends revealed by this investigation. The FBI warned in the bulletin that these incidents make it “difficult for the community to distinguish” between legitimate officers conducting lawful law enforcement actions and impostors engaging in criminal activity, which damages trust between the local community and law enforcement officers. Impersonating a federal agent is a serious offense punishable by up to three years in prison. While this type of crime is not new, the rise in reports of fake ICE agents carrying out violent attacks is a growing concern, according to data reviewed by Noticias Telemundo and experts consulted for this investigation. In the past, impostors typically stole from immigrants. However, John Tobon, a retired deputy director of Homeland Security Investigations (ICE’s investigative arm), told Noticias Telemundo that these crimes have recently become “much more aggressive and violent.” Experts, activists and officials interviewed by Noticias Telemundo warned that immigrants are easy prey for these fake agents: They often comply without resistance, may not speak or understand English well, and often fail to report crimes or withdraw from investigations and court proceedings out of fear of deportation. Noticias Telemundo reached out to at least a dozen immigrants who were victims or witnesses in documented 2025 cases. Seven did not respond or declined to talk, including two women allegedly raped by fake agents. Some cited fear of their attackers or of being identified by immigration authorities. “You never know what might happen to me or my family,” a Venezuelan who said he witnessed an impostor staging a fake “immigration operation” said. Rep. Laura Friedman, D-Calif., said, “We truly don’t know how often these crimes may be happening.” “If someone is robbed or assaulted and is undocumented, in this environment, they’re probably not going to come forward and complain to the police,” she said. “It’s very possible that this is happening a lot more than we even know.” Friedman and 30 other members of the House Democratic Women’s Caucus sent a letter in August to then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Trump administration officials demanding ICE agents identify themselves “visibly and clearly,” warning that impersonators leverage women’s uncertainty and fear of the consequences of immigration actions to rape, harass and abuse them. California passed a law banning agents from wearing masks or refusing to identify themselves, but a judge blocked its enforcement following a federal lawsuit. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the City Council passed ICE-related legislation that prohibits ICE agents from wearing masks or using unmarked vehicles and requires them to display badges. “We have laws here in Philadelphia that if the gas company, the water department or any city service comes to your house, they have to identify themselves,” Kendra Brooks, the minority leader of the Philadelphia City Council, told Noticias Telemundo. “What would make federal agents any different?” According to court documents, on June 8, 2025, an armed man claiming to be an ICE agent burst into a business in northeast Philadelphia, saying he was conducting an “operation” to detain undocumented immigrants. He zip-tied the cashier — a 50-year-old Dominican immigrant — stole $1,000 and fled, a local news outlet reported . He wore a black shirt, green pants, a vest marked “Security Enforcement Agent,” gloves, a cap and sunglasses, another news report said . The alleged robber, who was arrested shortly afterward, was one of only two suspects nationwide to be charged with federal counts of impersonating an ICE agent in 2025, according to a review of cases by Noticias Telemundo. “It’s extremely important that people who commit serious crimes while pretending to be ICE agents have consequences,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner told Noticias Telemundo. “So, they absolutely should be locked up.” He said that he had never come across such cases in the city prior to 2025. In 2025, local authorities reported violent robberies carried out by fake agents across Texas, North Carolina and Delaware. Court records describe a Dominican woman dragged to a basement, savagely beaten and raped after leaving a medical appointment in New York. According to court records, a Venezuelan immigrant was raped at her workplace in North Carolina by a man claiming to be an agent. In Florida, a police report stated that an armed man had cycled through an apartment complex searching for “illegal Mexicans.” In California, a driver in a car with police lights and sirens hit someone while shouting “ICE raid!” police said in a statement. “We are in uncharted territory,” said Naureen Shah, the director of government affairs, equality division, at the American Civil Liberties Union. “We’ve never in this country experienced masked agents on this kind of scale. And so, we’ve never experienced this problem before of people being able to credibly impersonate federal law enforcement agents.” Convinced he was about to die, a young Mexican immigrant said goodbye to his wife. He couldn’t breathe, his chest ached, and he felt a chill race from his feet to his head. “It was something I’d never felt before,” he recalled, asking his name be withheld due to a fear of reprisals. His doctor later diagnosed it as his first panic attack. He said he’s felt a sense of dread in places he once enjoyed, such as shopping or outings with his family. It all started in late January 2025, when a fake ICE agent threatened to deport him and his crew after they had finished landscaping work on Sullivan’s Island, an affluent enclave near Charleston, South Carolina. “You’re going back to Mexico,” a man told the immigrants in a video recorded from