United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Description

A federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security, ICE's stated mission is "[p]rotecting America through criminal investigations and enforcing immigration laws to preserve national security and public safety". ICE enforces more than 400 federal statutes, focusing on customs violations, immigration enforcement, terrorism prevention, and trafficking.

ICE's two primary and distinct law enforcement components are:

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)

HSI is focused on the disruption of transnational crime, whereas ERO is responsible for the apprehension, detention, deportation and removal of illegal immigrants. ERO is among the most public and contentious functions of ICE, and maintains custodial facilities used to detain people who are illegally present in the United States and pose a reasonable threat to public safety. The agency's three supporting divisions are:

Management & Program Administration

The Office of Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA)

The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR)

Like its predecessor in immigration enforcement, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the agency and its personnel are known informally in Spanish as "la migra".

History

Background

The 1876 US Supreme Court case Chy Lung v. Freeman established the power of the US federal government to set and enforce rules regarding immigration. The Immigration Act of 1891 created a commissioner of immigration in the Treasury Department. In 1903, immigration was transferred to the purview of the Department of Commerce and Labor and, after it split in 1913, to the Department of Labor. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was established in 1933. In 1940, with increasing concern about national security, services relating to immigration and naturalization were organized under the authority of the Department of Justice.

Origins and initial activities

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (under the Justice Department) and the United States Customs Service (under the Treasury Department) were dissolved on March 1, 2003, when the Homeland Security Act of 2002 transferred most of their functions to three new entities – United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) – within the newly created United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as part of a major government reorganization following the September 11 attacks of 2001. ICE is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security and a contributor to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. The agency operates with a significant budget and workforce.

The agencies that were either moved entirely or merged in part into ICE included:

The criminal investigative and intelligence resources of the United States Customs Service

The criminal investigative, detention and deportation resources of the Immigration and Naturalization Service

The Federal Protective Service

The Federal Protective Service was later transferred from ICE to the National Protection and Programs Directorate effective October 28, 2009. In 2003, Asa Hutchinson moved the Federal Air Marshals Service from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to ICE, but Michael Chertoff moved them back to the TSA in 2005.

In February 2005, ICE began Operation Community Shield, a national law enforcement initiative that targets violent transnational street gangs through the use of ICE's broad law enforcement powers, including the unique and powerful authority to remove criminal immigrants, including illegal immigrants and legal permanent residents.

Obama administration

Between 2009 and 2016, the Barack Obama administration oversaw the deporting of a record 2.4 million illegal immigrants who had entered the United States, earning him the nickname "Deporter-In-Chief" by Janet Murguía, the president of National Council of La Raza. According to ICE data, about 40% of those deported by ICE in 2015 had no criminal conviction, while a majority of those convicted were guilty of minor charges. Statistics of record deportations were partly due to a change in how deportations were counted that began during the Bush administration and continued under the Obama administration.

2017–2021: First Trump administration

ICE had seven acting directors during the first Trump administration:

Tom Homan - from January 2017 to June 2018. Nominated for permanent position in November 2017.

Ronald Vitiello - from June 2018 to April 2019. Nominated for permanent position in August 2018.

Matthew Albence - from April 2019 to May 2019, and again from July 2019 to August 2020.

Mark A. Morgan - from May 2019 to July 2019.

Tony Pham - from August 2020 to December 2020.

Jonathan Fahey - from December 2020 to January 2021.

Tae Johnson - from January 13, 2021 to January 20, 2021 (Trump administration); continued as acting director in the Biden administration (see below).

Following a presidential campaign that centered immigration policy, Donald Trump enacted in his first presidency (2017–2021) a hardline immigration policy intended to reduce immigration. Shortly after taking office, he signed an executive order to increase ICE's staffing by 10,000 people, and to vastly expand ICE's immigration enforcement powers. While ICE largely prioritized people charged with serious crimes during the Obama administration, Trump's first administration directed the agency to target anybody it believed had entered the United States illegally. Subsequently, the number of encounters and arrests performed by ICE increased substantially, including the encounters and arrests of U.S. citizens. ICE began engaging in high-profile raids at places of employment, places of worship, and places of education. By 2020, growing numbers of Democratic lawmakers and progressive figures called for the abolition of ICE and an overhaul of the United States immigration system due to ICE's controversial practices.

In 2018, a total of 19 HSI special agents in charge or SACs (who are the senior most officials in each investigative division) sent a letter to DHS secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and asked to be formally separated from ICE. These 19 SACs explained that HSI's investigative mission was repeatedly being hamstrung by ICE's civil immigration enforcement mission, saying that many jurisdictions limited their co-operation with HSI because of its linkage to the politically charged activity of ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), which is also housed under ICE. These senior leaders requested HSI be restructured as a stand-alone agency analogous to the Secret Service. It was also stated "No U.S. Department of Justice law enforcement agency is paired with another disparate entity, i.e., the FBI is not paired with the Bureau of Prisons or DEA." This letter was ultimately ignored by the administration.

2021–2025: Biden administration

The Biden administration retained Johnson as acting director of ICE; Johnson retired in July 2023. In April 2021, Biden had nominated Ed Gonzalez for the position of director of ICE; Gonzalez withdrew in June 2022 when it was clear that the Senate would not confirm the nomination. Johnson was followed as acting director by Patrick Lechleitner, who held that position until the end of the administration.

During Biden's presidency, approximately 4 million removals and expulsions were recorded at the U.S.–Mexico border. The totals included multiple crossings made by the same individuals, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the Biden administrations Priority Enforcement Program, the American Immigration Council found, from February to November 2021, nearly half (49.8 percent) of detainers were carried out against people in the "other" category, nearly a third (33.2 percent) of arrests fell under the "other" category and 23.4 percent of removals were also classified as "other." As of October 2023, ICE held approximately 30,000 individuals in detention facilities across the United States.

ICE's increasing use of solitary confinement under Biden was criticized.

2025–present: Second Trump administration

To date, ICE has had three acting directors during the second Trump administration:

Caleb Vitello, who was nominated in December 2024 for the permanent position of ICE director, and was the acting director from January to February 2025.

Todd Lyons, from March 2025 to May 2026.

David Venturella - from June 1, 2026, to the present.

In late June 2026, Lance Schroyer was nominated to fill the director's role permanently, with Venturella to remain as acting director until Schroyer's confirmation by the Senate.

ICE again came to the forefront during the second presidency of Donald Trump, as Trump once again imposed a hardline immigration policy. Trump's administration enacted a major wave of deportations, On January 22, the DHS announced the administration was rolling back an Obama-era directive that had protected migrants in sensitive areas such as hospitals, places of worship, courtrooms, funerals, weddings and schools, giving rise to fears that certain sectors, such as the food industry, might lack workers. Two days later, acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman said the agency would deport people admitted into the United States temporarily by the Biden administration. The U.S. military was deployed to assist ICE in multiple states. The administration has used the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport individuals subject to removal under the AEA with limited or no due process, and to be imprisoned in El Salvador. Several American citizens were detained and deported. Administration practices have faced legal issues and stoked controversy with lawyers, judges, and legal scholars. The Trump administration began setting daily targets for ICE arrests, and engaged in a controversial campaign to increase the visibility of ICE's arrests. Some have stated that ICE during this time has been targeting "Hispanic looking" people, and federal courts have found the agency to be engaged in racial profiling.

In the first couple of months of the second Trump administration, several people died in ICE custody. Demonstrations emerged nationwide in 2025 against ICE's immigration enforcement activity and policies, including the June 2025 Los Angeles protests. Legal and law enforcement experts described ICE's use of plainclothes arrests as resulting in a spike of ICE impersonators being arrested across the country.

Organization

ICE maintains domestic offices throughout the United States and detachments at major U.S. diplomatic missions overseas. ICE personnel (special agents and officers) do not patrol American borders; rather, that role is performed by the Border Patrol. ERO and HSI operate as two independent law enforcement agencies and have completely separate mission statements. HSI is focused on the disruption of transnational crime, whereas ERO is responsible for the apprehension, detention and removal of illegal immigrants. ICE is responsible for identifying and eliminating border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security vulnerabilities. ICE started the second Trump administration with over 20,000 employees. DHS is recruiting 10,000 new ICE agents. An additional 5,000 personnel from federal law enforcement agencies and 21,000 National Guard troops help arrest illegal immigrants.

The organization is composed of two law enforcement directorates (HSI and ERO) and several support divisions each headed by a director who reports to an executive associate director. The divisions of ICE provide investigation, interdiction and security services to the public and other law enforcement partners in the federal and local sectors. Tensions have existed between ICE's two branches, with HSI agents during Trump's first term seeking to more formally break away from ERO after finding it hampered their ability to conduct investigations due to negative associations with ERO's deportation work. The director of ICE is appointed at the sub-cabinet level by the president of the United States, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and reports directly to the secretary of homeland security.

Structure

Director (until July 2010 the title had been "assistant secretary")

Deputy director

Chief of staff

Enforcement and Removal Operations

Removal Division

Secure Communities and Enforcement Division

Immigration Health Services Division

Mission Support Division

Detention Management Division

Local Field Offices

Homeland Security Investigations

Domestic Operations Division

Intelligence Division

International Operations Division

Mission Support

National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center

National Security Investigations Division

Management and Administration

Office of Professional Responsibility

Office of the Principal Legal Advisor

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)

HSI is the primary investigative arm of Department of Homeland Security and consists of more than 10,300 employees who are assigned throughout 30 offices in the U.S. and 52 international offices (41 international sub-offices) around the world. Approximately 6,000 HSI employees are special agents (criminal investigators), making it the second-largest investigative service in the United States, behind the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

HSI special agents investigate violations of more than 400 U.S. laws that threaten national security, including counter-proliferation; human smuggling and trafficking; weapons smuggling; narcotics smuggling and trafficking; human rights violations; transnational gang activity; financial crimes, including money laundering and bulk cash smuggling; cyber crime; child exploitation and sex tourism; trade crimes such as commercial fraud and intellectual property theft; smuggling of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and other merchandise; document and benefit fraud; the manufacturing, sale, and use of counterfeit immigration and identity documents; mass-marketing fraud; art theft; international cultural property and antiquities crimes; export enforcement and visa security. HSI agents can be requested to provide security for VIPs, and also augment the U.S. Secret Service during overtaxed times such as special security events and elections.

HSI was formerly known as the ICE Office of Investigations. HSI special agents are Series 1811 criminal investigators and have the statutory authority to enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act (Title 8), U.S. customs laws (Title 19), general federal crimes (Title 18), the Controlled Substances Act (Title 21), with approval from the Department of Justice, as well as Titles 5, 6, 12, 22, 26, 28, 31, 46, 49, and 50 of the U.S. Code.

Peter Hatch—assistant director of Homeland Security Investigations—announced that ICE had assembled a "tiger team" to pursue international students who had participated in protests in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war. This team used information from pro-Israel doxing website Canary Mission and radical Zionist organization Betar, investigating 5,000 listed names. Hatch stated that "more than 75%" of student protesters that ICE targeted for deportation came from these sites.

The largest cadre of special agents are located within Domestic Operations. In FY 2020, HSI special agents made 31,915 criminal arrests, rescued or identified 1,012 child exploitation victims, and seized $341 million worth of counterfeit goods, 6,195 pounds (2,810 kg) of fentanyl and $1.8 billion in currency & assets from criminal organizations. HSI combats child exploitation, including the sexual exploitation of children; the production, advertisement and distribution of child pornography; and child sex tourism. They also work to identify and arrest those possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material. In 2006, Operation Flicker found that there were a number of government employees, including "dozens of Pentagon staff and contractors with high-level security clearance", who had downloaded child pornography.

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) primarily deals with the deportation and removal of illegal immigrants. It is among the most public and contentious functions of ICE. ERO maintains custodial facilities used to detain people who are illegally present in the United States. In interior offices, ERO officers primarily conduct targeted enforcement operations to apprehend immigrants. At border offices, ERO officers receive and detain illegal immigrants apprehended by the United States Border Patrol.

ERO is responsible for enforcing the federal government's immigration laws and ensuring the departure of removable immigrants from the United States. ERO uses its detention and deportation officers to identify, arrest, and remove immigrants who violate U.S. immigration law. Deportation officers are responsible for the transportation and detention of immigrants in ICE custody to include the removal of immigrants to their country of origin. Deportation officers arrest immigrants for violations of U.S. immigration law, monitor cases during deportation proceedings, supervise released immigrants, and deportation from the United States.

Deportation officers operate strategically placed Fugitive Operations Teams whose function is to locate, apprehend, and remove immigrants who have absconded from immigration proceedings and remain in the United States with outstanding warrants for deportation. Due to limited staffing, ERO Fugitive Operations typically target illegal immigrants with a history of serious criminal convictions (i.e. homicide, sexual assaults, aggravated felonies).

ERO manages the Secure Communities program which identifies removable immigrants located in jails and prisons. Fingerprints submitted as part of the normal criminal arrest and booking process will automatically check both the Next Generation Identification (NGI) of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division and the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) of the Department of Homeland Security's US-VISIT Program. ERO was formerly known as the Office of Detention and Removal Operations (DRO).

Other ICE divisions

The Office of State, Local and Tribal Coordination (OSLTC) is ICE's primary outreach and communications component for state, local and tribal stakeholders. It is responsible for building and improving relationships, and coordinating activities with state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies and through public engagement. It also fosters and sustains relationships with federal, state and local government officials and coordinates ICE ACCESS programs (Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security). The Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) provides legal advice, training and services to support the ICE mission and defends the interests of the United States in the administrative and federal courts. The Office of Professional Responsibility is responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct involving employees of ICE.

ICE Air is the aviation division of ICE that charters aircraft or books commercial flights to send deportees back to their home countries. There were 10 aircraft used to send deportees in 2017, which increased to 12 by 2026. Deportees have legs and arms secured while boarding, handcuffs are removed during flight and most deportees have no restraints upon disembarking. ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC) is a division that is responsible for providing direct patient care to approximately 13,500 detainees housed in 21 detention facilities throughout the nation. Their stated mission is to provide the best care to those in ICE custody, practicing on the core values of Integrity, Commitment, Accountability, Service, and Excellence. The IHSC team is made up of around 1,000 members that consist of US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers, healthcare professionals, and federal civil service workers.

Former units

The Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) was aligned into ICE shortly after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. On October 16, 2005, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff officially approved the transfer of the Federal Air Marshal Service from the Bureau of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the TSA as part of a broader departmental reorganization to align functions consistent with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "Second Stage Review" findings for:

consolidating and strengthening aviation law enforcement and security at the Federal level;

creating a common approach to stakeholder outreach; and

improving the coordination and efficiency of aviation security operations.

As part of this realignment, the director of the Federal Air Marshal Service also became the assistant administrator for the TSA Office of Law Enforcement (OLE), which houses nearly all TSA law enforcement services. The Federal Protective Service (FPS) was moved from the General Services Administration (GSA) to ICE upon the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The FPS was later moved out of ICE to the National Protection Programs Directorate.

Originally a part of the U.S. Customs Service's Office of Investigations, the Office of Air and Marine (then called the Air and Marine Interdiction Division) were transferred to ICE in 2003 during the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, becoming the Office of Air and Marine Operations. Due in part to a 500 million dollar budgetary dispute between CBP and ICE, in 2004, ICE Air and Marine Operations were transferred to CBP. CBP Air and Marine still works closely with ICE to support the agency's domestic and international law enforcement operations. The Office of Detention Policy and Planning was responsible for developing and maintaining ICE's National Detention Standards, which set out detailed rules for how immigration detainees were to be treated differently than criminal inmates. In April 2017, President Donald Trump decided to close the office and to stop including the standards in new jail contracts.

Training

Newly hired ICE law enforcement personnel receive their training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia. As of 2025, only recruits with no law enforcement experience receive training at FLETC, with other recruits taking an online test instead. Prior to 2025, ERO Officer trainees had to complete the basic 13-week ERO academy, and basic training lasted 72 days. In August 2025, ERO training was cut in half to run six days a week for eight weeks and academy training reduced to 47 days, then reduced to 42 days in September. ICE says trainees receive roughly 28 days of "on the job" training.

In 2026, internal documents from ICE detailed it had cut 240 hours of its basic training program, roughly 40% of instructional time, including 100 hours of practical hands-on training, 56 hours of firearms training, almost all fitness training, and dozens of hours on officers' legal authority.

HSI Special Agent trainees must complete the inter-agency Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP) and the HSI Special Agent Training Course (HSI SAT). HSI special agents also receive significantly advanced training regarding U.S. customs law, warrant service, advanced tactics, undercover operations, criminal interrogation, weapons of mass destruction, and other subjects routinely encountered by HSI special agents in the field. HSI Special Agents typically complete CITP in conjunction with other agencies (i.e. Secret Service, Diplomatic Security Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, and various Office of Inspector Generals, etc.); however, the agency specific HSI SAT course is only attended by HSI trainees and focuses on customs & immigration related investigations.

Weapons and equipment

Surveillance and data collection technology

In 2025, it was reported that ICE agents use a facial recognition app called Mobile Fortify. According to documentation from the US Department of Homeland Security, the app draws from databases from the CBP Traveler Verification Service including photos taken at airports when people enter and exit the US, and can provide information including a subject's name, date of birth, possible citizenship status, and whether the subject's visa might have expired, and the DHS Seizure and Apprehension Workflow. In December 2025, Politico reported that ICE's large purchases of high-tech surveillance equipment expected to total at least $300 million coupled with lowered administration guardrails on data collection via executive order workarounds on federal data privacy standards showed that "the agency itself is signaling a shift in its enforcement policy, looking beyond immigrants and toward American critics of its officers' behavior".

In September 2025, ICE signed a contract of $10 million with Clearview AI, making it their largest contract to date, with the second-largest being $2.3 million in 2021 for facial recognition software that controversially scrapes images from social media for face printing. ICE has been criticized for its deal with Paragon Solutions, a spyware company whose tool, Graphite, enables remote access to mobile phones, including encrypted apps. The $2 million contract, initially signed under the Biden administration but paused under a 2023 executive order restricting spyware linked to misuse abroad, was reactivated in 2025 by the second Trump administration. Paragon faced scrutiny after its software was reportedly used to target journalists, migrant advocates, and associates of Pope Francis in Italy. Civil liberties advocates warned of threats to due process and human rights.

Concerns were raised over a $30 million no-bid contract awarded to Palantir Technologies to develop "ImmigrationOS", a data system designed to help ICE prioritize deportations by merging government and private data. While aimed at targeting visa overstayers and alleged gang members, civil rights advocates warned the system could easily be repurposed to surveil or target U.S. citizens, including political opponents of President Trump. Trump had reportedly suggested removing not just immigrants but also U.S. citizens deemed dangerous and said he ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate.

In September 2025, Trump labeled "Antifa" a "domestic terrorist organization", and issued an executive order to all federal agencies to investigate it. ICE acting director, Todd Lyons, said in an interview that ICE will investigate anti-ICE protester networks, "to track the money. We are going to track these ringleaders ... and ... professional agitators". The technology can be covertly inserted into anyone's phone from a drone hovering over a protest, and features iris-scanning software that can be used from a smartphone, correlating instantly to a current massive database of such data. Former officials, Democratic politicians, and civil rights advocates, have complained that ICE is now permitted and empowered to engage in sweeping surveillance of Americans engaging in constitutionally permissible political action.

Firearms

The agency has a list of personally owned weapons that are authorized for duty and off duty carry. These weapons must be inspected and approved by the agency's firearms unit. The agents and officers must qualify with the weapon every three months. As non-lethal options, special agents and officers are armed with the expandable metal baton and pepper spray.

Identity-concealing masks

ICE agents have used balaclavas to conceal their identities. Tom Homan, Border Czar under Trump, defended ICE agents' use of such identity-concealing face masks, stating, "ICE officers wear a mask because they've been doxxed by the thousands", continuing, "Their families have been doxxed. ICE officers' pictures show up on trees and telephone poles. Death threats are sky-high." In response to ICE's masking practice, California passed the No Secret Police Act, an anti-mask law to prevent federal agents from wearing masks during their raids. In February 2026, a district court judge blocked California's law because it only applied to federal agents and not state officers. In March 2026, the states of Washington and New Jersey both passed anti-mask laws banning all law enforcement officers, including federal agents, from wearing masks.

Immigration law

Immigration and Nationality Act Section 287(g) allows ICE to establish increased cooperation and communication with state, and local law enforcement agencies. Section 287(g) authorizes the secretary of homeland security to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies, permitting designated officers to perform immigration law enforcement functions, pursuant to a memorandum of agreement (MOA), provided that the local law enforcement officers receive appropriate training and function under the supervision of sworn ICE officers. Under 287(g), ICE provides state and local law enforcement with the training and subsequent authorization to identify, process, and when appropriate, detain illegal immigrants they encounter during their regular, daily law-enforcement activity under the Task Force Model.

The 287(g) program is one of several ICE ACCESS (ICE "Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security") programs that increase collaboration between local law enforcement and immigration enforcement agents. 287(g) agreements increased from 135 in January 2025 to 649 in June 2025.

ERO detention centers

ICE ERO operates detention centers throughout the United States that detain people who are apprehended and placed into removal proceedings. The United States maintains the largest immigrant detention camp infrastructure in the world. As of February 2026, ICE reported it used 225 detention facilities in the current fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2025. On January 15, 2026, ICE reported holding around 73,000 individuals in custody, the highest level since its founding in 2003.

According to the Columbia Law Review, for decades, "courts and observers have documented and analyzed a wide range of detention-related concerns, including mandatory and presumed custody, coercion and other due process violations, inadequate access to counsel, prolonged and indefinite custody, inadequate conditions of confinement, and violations of international law obligations". It stated some commentators were increasingly preferring the term "incarceration" or "imprisonment". During Trump's first and second presidencies, a movement swelled online to call ICE detention facilities "concentration camps", while others situate it within American concentration camps, including the internment of German Americans, the internment of Italian Americans, and the internment of Japanese Americans at Manzanar and elsewhere.

Detention center conditions

File:Results of an Unannounced Inspection of Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana OIG-26-08-Jun26.pdf

Conditions in ICE detention centers have received substantial criticism and widespread allegations of rotten food, overcrowding, a lack of sanitation, physical and sexual abuse, and multiple deaths. The Intercept published a report by the DHS Office of Inspector General revealing that 1,224 sexual abuse complaints while in immigration custody were filed between January 2010 and June 2017. Contrary to ICE's claims, only 2% of these complaints were investigated. In 2020, the Kino Border Initiative received 442 reports of alleged abuse by US agents, meaning 18% of new arrivals were allegedly abused by a US official. In 2019, a detained U.S. citizen stated that he lost 26 pounds (12 kg) in 23 days due to lack of food.

In December 2025, the report "Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human Rights Violations at 'Alligator Alcatraz' and Krome in Florida" published by Amnesty International concluded that the camp's conditions, including routine and prolonged use of shackles and retention in a "box" described as a 2x2 foot cage-like structure "constitutes torture". Human rights organizations and legal experts claim the camp does not meet the minimum standards of human treatment required for persons detained under international law due to the declared absence of sanitary facilities, medical care and access to legal advice with potential violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT).

In 2025, conditions at Camp East Montana also received substantial criticism, and during its first 50 days, conditions at the camp violated at least 60 federal standards, according to ICE's own detention oversight unit. By December 2025, more than 45 detainees had reported abuse and injuries to their attorneys. Two inmates reported having their testicles crushed by guards as a form of punishment. As of January 2026, three detainee deaths were reported within 44 days. An autopsy ruled the death of 55-year old Cuban immigrant Geraldo Lunas Campos as a homicide caused by asphyxia. A 2026 report by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union described widespread human rights abuses at the camp including frequent beatings and their use for collective punishment, filthy conditions and inedible food, denied medical care and legal representation, and threats of violence.

Wrongful detentions

From 2012 to early 2018, ICE wrongfully arrested and detained 1,480 U.S. citizens, including many who spent months or years in immigration detention. A 2018 Los Angeles Times investigation found that ICE's reliance on incomplete and error-prone databases and lax investigations led to the erroneous detentions. From 2008 to 2018, ICE was sued for wrongful arrest by more than two dozen U.S. citizens, who had been detained for periods ranging from one day to over three years. Some of the wrongfully detained U.S. citizens had been arrested by ICE more than once. The inaccurate government data that ICE used had shown that both immigrants and U.S. citizens were both targets of being detained.

Separation of migrant children from families

As part of the 2018 Trump administration's zero tolerance policy, nearly 3,000 minors were separated from their parents, or the adults accompanying them, while trying to illegally cross the U.S.–Mexico border and placed in detention camps. The former head of ICE, John Sandweg, was critical of child separation, telling NBC News, "You could easily end up in a situation where the gap between a parent's deportation and a child's deportation is years", and that many children might never see their parents again. Detained children have also been given up for adoption. In a series of court cases, foster families were successfully able to gain full custody of migrant children that they were housing without notifying their parents.

Sanctuary cities

Sanctuary cities are cities that limit their cooperation with ICE ERO, particularly in regards to individuals arrested for state criminal violations. These jurisdictions generally do not honor ICE detainer requests to notify the agency and hold individuals beyond their normal release time. Sanctuary city policies address constitutional concerns about detaining individuals without probable cause, viewing immigration violations as civil rather than criminal matters.

Sanctuary cities were one of the many focal points for the Trump administration's attempts to reform the country's immigration policies. In early 2017, President Trump issued an executive order to deny sanctuary cities federal grants if they did not comply with ICE. By November 2017, this order was struck down by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Despite this, the Trump administration continued to seek ways to challenge sanctuary cities, such as implementing a policy that preferentially awards policing grants that cooperate with ICE.

In popular culture

By January 2026, The Associated Press reported that a "broad cultural revolt" against ICE and Trump's immigration agenda was forming across American culture, business, sports, and entertainment. In October 2025, Zach Bryan, an American country music singer-songwriter, posted an audio snippet onto his Instagram account of a partial recording of an unreleased song called "Bad News" with lyrics which appeared to be critical of tactics used by some ICE agents deployed in cities around the country, although he said the full song would have "hits on both sides of the aisle". On January 28, Bruce Springsteen released the anti-ICE protest song "Streets of Minneapolis". Multiple celebrities at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards used the event to criticize ICE. In 2026, U2 released the song "American Obituary" criticizing ICE. In the 2026 song "Ran to Atlanta", Canadian rapper Drake referred to ICE as "fake feds".

Paul Thomas Anderson's 2025 film One Battle After Another, an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland, begins with a raid on an ICE facility to free detainees and, according to The New Yorker, features "relentless government persecution of immigrants" and "the Army working closely with heavily militarized police".