What is ICE and what powers do they have?
The fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on 7 January sparked protests across the US and increased scrutiny of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE).
ICE has made thousands of arrests since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, often in public places, leading to a number of clashes with protesters who oppose the agency’s operations.
A second fatal shooting, of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, happened in Minneapolis on Saturday 24 January. This incident involved Border Patrol, an immigration agency which works alongside ICE.
What is ICE and when was it formed?
ICE is taking the lead in carrying out the Trump administration’s mass deportation initiative, which was a central promise of Trump’s election campaign.
The US president has significantly expanded ICE, its budget and its mission since returning to the White House. The agency enforces immigration laws and conducts investigations into undocumented immigration. It also plays a role in removing undocumented immigrants from the US.
ICE was formed as part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, a response to the terror attacks on 11 September 2001. The legislation created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with ICE as one of its subsidiary agencies.
What powers do ICE agents have to arrest people?
ICE sees its mission as encompassing both public safety and national security. However, its powers are different to those of the average local police department in the US.
Its agents can stop, detain and arrest people they suspect of being in the US illegally. However legal permission to enter a home or other private space requires a signed judicial warrant.
Agents can detain US citizens in limited circumstances, such as if a person interferes with an arrest, assaults an officer, or ICE suspect the person of being in the US illegally.
Despite this, according to news organisation ProPublica, there were more than 170 incidents during the first nine months of Trump’s presidency in which federal agents held US citizens against their will.
These cases included Americans they had suspected of being undocumented immigrants.
What powers does ICE have to use force?
ICE’s use of actions involving force are governed by a combination of the US Constitution, US law and the DHS’s own guidelines.
Under the US Constitution, law enforcement “can only use deadly force if the person poses a serious danger to them or other people, or the person has committed a violent crime”, said Chris Slobogin, director of the criminal justice programme at Vanderbilt University Law School.
But the US Supreme Court has historically granted broad leniency to officers making in-the-moment decisions without the benefit of hindsight.
A DHS policy memo from 2023 states that federal officers “may use deadly force only when necessary” when they have “a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury” to themselves or another person.
In Minneapolis, US citizen Good was killed while behind the wheel of her car. The Trump administration says the agent acted in self-defence but local officials insist she posed no danger.
During the political row that followed Good’s death, Minnesota officials sued the Trump administrationin an attempt to block the deployment of federal immigration agents in the state.
Where does ICE operate?
Typically, ICE operates inside the US, with some staffing abroad.
ICE and other agencies have deployed hundreds of officers to cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis, in partnership with other federal law enforcement agencies.
About 2,000 agents from ICE and other federal agencies were deployed Minneapolis as of 14 January, officials told BBC’s US partner CBS News, as well as an additional 800 US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents including Border Patrol staff.
It is thought some agents have since left.
Ecuadorian authorities confirmed that an ICE agent tried to enter its Minneapolis consulate on 27 January but was denied entry.
Under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, consular premises are considered “inviolable”, and Ecuador – whose president is an ally of Trump – has filed an official complaint.
Why are ICE agents going to the Winter Olympics in Italy and will they be at the Super Bowl?
Milan Mayor Beppe Sala reacted angrily to the news that ICE agents would be sent to Italy to help support American security operations during the Winter Olympics, which begin on 6 February. “This is a militia that kills… of course they’re not welcome,” he told Italian radio.
It is common for DHS and US domestic law enforcement agencies to provide security support at major international events.
In this case, US officials insist that the role of Homeland Security Investigations – part of ICE – will be “strictly supportive – working with the Diplomatic Security Service and Italian authorities to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations”.
It would “obviously” not conduct immigration enforcement operations outside the US, government spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told the BBC. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed that ICE personnel would not appear on Italian streets.
However, ICE agents are expected to be on duty at the Super Bowl football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots in California on 8 February.
McLaughlin told The Independent newspaper that the DHS would work with local and federal partners “to ensure the Super Bowl is safe for everyone involved, as we do with every major sporting event, including the World Cup”.
“Those who are here legally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear,” she said.
What is Border Patrol?
Border Patrol is a uniformed branch of law enforcement that is part of the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency.
It typically operates near the southern border and at other points of entry but under Trump now also works in the interior, helping ICE agents to conduct immigration stops in major cities.
During the administration of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, the numbers of immigrants arriving in US cities far from the border spiked.
US Citizen Pretti – an intensive care nurse – was shot by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.
The administration initially defended the officers involved. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti was shot because he was “brandishing” a gun. Senior presidential adviser Stephen Miller called him a “would-be assassin”.
Local authorities denied this, adding that the gun was legally registered, he was not brandishing it, and that Pretti was shot after the firearm was removed.
There is no sign of a gun in Pretti’s hand, according to analysis of the available video by BBC Verify.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later struck a more muted tone, and said a full investigation would be carried out. Trump himself said his administration would “de-escalate a little bit” in Minnesota, while Miller acknowledged that the agents involved in the incident may not have followed protocol.
The two two agents who were involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino was also expected to leave Minneapolis, being replaced by Trump’s border tsar Tom Homan.
What happens to people who are detained by ICE?
The scale of Trump-era deportations have been significant.
The administration said it had deported 605,000 people between 20 January and 10 December 2025. It also said 1.9 million immigrants had “voluntarily self-deported”, following an aggressive public awareness campaign encouraging people to leave the country on their own to avoid arrest or detention.
An immigrant who encounters ICE can face a variety of outcomes.
Sometimes an individual is temporarily held, then released after questioning. In other circumstances, ICE will detain and transfer that person to a larger detention facility, of which there are several throughout the US.
While many immigrants continue to fight for legal status while detained, if they are unsuccessful, they may ultimately be deported.
About 65,000 people were in ICE detention as of 30 November 2025, according to data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse’s immigration project, a compendium of government data from Syracuse University.
Immigration lawyers have told the BBC that, once ICE detains an individual, it can sometimes take days for families or lawyers to find out where they are.
Protesters and lawmakers gather outside Texas facility where Minneapolis child is held
What opposition have ICE agents met?
Many communities have pushed back when ICE and partner agencies like the Border Patrol carry out operations.
It is now common for residents to film ICE agents as they carry out arrests. Some encounters between ICE and the public have become aggressive or violent.
During ICE operations in Chicago, Illinois, a collective of media organisations sued the Border Patrol. They alleged agents used improper force against journalists, religious leaders and protesters.
A federal judge sided with the group, before an appeals court overturned the decision.
Good and Pretti are not the only people injured by gunfire during an immigration enforcement operation.
It emerged that an ICE officer shot a Venezuelan man in the leg in Minneapolis in the days after Good’s death. The DHS said federal officers were conducting a “targeted traffic stop” when a Venezuelan national was shot after resisting arrest and assaulting an officer.
There were also two incidents in Los Angeles in October in which agents shot at drivers, the Los Angeles Times reported. DHS said in both instances that the drivers had threatened the officers with their vehicles.
ICE officers, and other immigration agents, have also been criticised for wearing masks while carrying out their operations.
DHS officials have defended the practice, saying it protects agents from doxxing – being identified online – or harassment.
Where do Americans stand on ICE and deportations?
Americans have a complicated view of Trump’s immigration enforcement plans, polling suggests.
A little more than half believe some level of deportation is necessary, an October 2025 survey from the non-partisan Pew Research Center suggested. That’s roughly the same number as Pew found the previous March.
But the same poll suggests that Americans have concerns about Trump’s methods.
It found that a majority of US adults – 53% – believed the Trump administration was doing “too much” to deport undocumented immigrants. About 36% backed the approach.
A CBS News poll carried out by between 14 and 16 January – after Good’s death but before Pretti’s – suggests opposition may have been growing.
It found that 61% of respondents said that ICE was being “too tough when stopping and detaining people”, while 58% disapproved of Trump’s handling of immigration as a whole.