The administration may grant immigration agents more autonomy as the FBI shifts assault investigations to Homeland Security Investigations.

The administration announced that the FBI will no longer investigate claims of assaults against immigration agents, according to reports from The New York Times. Instead, Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will likely handle these cases. This shift allows the agency to investigate its own officers, which critics suggest could lead to less accountability for agents who shoot unarmed people. The change follows several high-profile incidents, including the recent deaths of Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Maine and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston. While the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security issued a joint statement denying any official change in policy, the guidance has already reached FBI and ICE managers. The administration has maintained that anyone who assaults a federal officer will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. By allowing the agency to oversee its own officers, the administration aims to streamline the process of determining whether agents were actually threatened during violent encounters.

Sources