FBI will no longer investigate ICE confrontations, agents told, as fatal shootings draw scrutiny

Policy shift

On Thursday, July 16, FBI managers across the country received a written notice that the bureau would no longer investigate claims of assaults against Department of Homeland Security agents, according to people briefed on the decision. Some ICE agents were notified the same day by their FBI counterparts. The change would shift responsibility to Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of ICE, effectively leaving the agency to investigate itself. HSI lacks jurisdiction to probe civil rights violations, making it far less likely that shootings of unarmed people by ICE agents would be examined for federal law violations.

Under the change, responsibility for investigating cases involving federal immigration officers would likely fall to Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of ICE, effectively leaving the agency to investigate itself... Homeland Security Investigations does not have jurisdiction to investigate civil rights violations, so putting the change into practice would make it far less likely that shootings of unarmed people by ICE agents would be investigated to determine if the agents broke federal law.

The Justice Department and DHS issued a joint statement denying any change. "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 statement said.

Fatal shootings in Maine and Texas

The reported guidance follows two fatal shootings by ICE agents in the last two weeks. On July 13, ICE agent David Brouillette shot and killed 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian immigrant who was in the U.S. legally and had a work permit and Social Security number, during a traffic stop in Biddeford, Maine. Durán Guerrero was not the intended target of the operation, his family said. A separate fatal shooting by ICE agents in Texas during the same period has also drawn scrutiny, though authorities have released few details.

Brouillette's ex-wives have since come forward to say that ICE failed to conduct adequate background checks. Ashley Brouillette, his first wife, said the agency never contacted her. "For years, I told people he was going to hurt somebody," she told The Independent. "I told everyone that if I ever ended up dead, that David would be the one to look at."

For years, I told people he was going to hurt somebody. I told everyone that if I ever ended up dead, that David would be the one to look at.

His second wife, Lucinda Brouillette, wrote that she believed he was capable of extreme violence. "If you were to ask me whether I believe David Brouillette is capable of this level of extreme violence, my answer is unequivocally yes," she stated.

If you were to ask me whether I believe David Brouillette is capable of this level of extreme violence, my answer is unequivocally yes.

DHS secrecy on agent identities

The Department of Homeland Security has declined to release the names of officers involved in high-profile killings, including the recent shootings in Maine and Texas. The department said identifying officers would expose them and their families to serious danger from violent agitators. However, a 2023 survey of 148 police departments by the Police Executive Research Forum found that 91 percent of agencies that release names reported no resulting harm to officers, and none reported physical violence. Last week, officials in St. Paul, Minnesota, sued DHS after what they said were repeated attempts to get the names of immigration officers involved in an episode in which a U.S. citizen was taken from his residence half-naked in subfreezing weather. The department has declined to share that information even with other law enforcement agencies.

At least six of the nation's 10 largest police departments, in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Las Vegas, Dallas, and Philadelphia, routinely release names within days or weeks. In Washington, D.C., the mayor's office releases names of all city officers involved in fatal or serious incidents, and after a federal surge last year, the District Council expanded that requirement to federal officers.

Broader pattern of ICE violence

The government has aggressively pursued felony assault charges against protesters for even fleeting physical contact with agents, but nearly half of those cases end in acquittal, dismissal, or withdrawal, according to a Times analysis. The FBI investigations, while intended to build cases against protesters, often gather evidence that could be used against officers. The new guidance would remove a key mechanism for collecting such evidence, critics say.