ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

What It Means

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was established on March 1, 2003 under the Homeland Security Act as the principal interior enforcement arm of DHS, absorbing the investigative and enforcement functions of the legacy INS and the U.S. Customs Service. ICE has two main operational directorates. Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) is responsible for identifying, arresting, detaining, and removing noncitizens subject to removal, managing the nationwide civil detention system (with an average daily detention population that has ranged from roughly 15,000 to over 55,000), and administering alternatives-to-detention programs like the ISAP GPS monitoring contract. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is the criminal investigative component, handling transnational crime, human trafficking, intellectual property theft, cyber crime, export control violations, and narcotics smuggling. Unlike ERO, HSI agents carry Title 18 criminal law enforcement authority and work closely with DOJ and U.S. Attorneys' Offices. ICE also operates the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA), which represents the government in removal proceedings before EOIR immigration judges. ICE uses a force of about 6,000 ERO deportation officers and 6,500 HSI special agents. Enforcement priorities are governed by DHS civil immigration enforcement memoranda (such as the 2021 Mayorkas memo and its successors) and have shifted significantly between administrations. Community programs like 287(g), which deputizes state and local officers under INA section 287(g), and Secure Communities, which leverages fingerprint sharing between local jails and ICE, have been politically contentious levers of interior enforcement.

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