What is ICE and what powers do its agents have to use force?

The fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis sparked protests and increased scrutiny of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ICE has arrested thousands of people since Trump’s return to the White House, often in public settings.

These actions enabled its agents to expand increasingly into communities across the country, leading to resistance from some local residents who opposed their operations.

ICE is leading the Trump administration’s mass deportation initiative, a key campaign promise of Donald Trump.

Since returning to the White House, the US president has significantly expanded ICE, its budget and its mission. The agency enforces immigration laws and conducts investigations into undocumented immigration. It also plays a role in removing undocumented immigrants from the United States.

ICE was created as part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The legislation created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), of which ICE is one of its subsidiaries.

ICE views its mission as encompassing both public safety and national security. However, their authority differs from that of the average local police department in the United States.

Their agents have the authority to stop, detain, and arrest anyone they suspect is in the United States illegally. They can detain US citizens in limited circumstances, such as if a person interferes with an arrest, assaults an officer, or if ICE suspects the person is in the US illegally.

However, according to the news outlet ProPublicaThere were more than 170 incidents in the first nine months of Trump’s presidency in which federal agents detained U.S. citizens against their will.

These cases included Americans suspected of being undocumented immigrants.

ICE’s use of force actions are governed by a combination of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. law, and the Department of Homeland Security’s own policy guidelines.

Chris Slobogin, director of the criminal justice program at Vanderbilt University School of Law, said that under the U.S. constitution, law enforcement “may use deadly force only when the person poses a serious danger to himself or other people or when the person has committed a violent crime.”

But the U.S. Supreme Court has historically given broad leniency to officers who make split-second decisions without the benefit of hindsight.

A 2023 DHS policy memo states that federal officers “may use deadly force only when necessary” when they have “a reasonable belief that the person subjected to such force poses an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to themselves or another person.”

Typically, ICE operates in the United States and has some personnel located abroad. Its sister agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, technically patrols U.S. borders.

But those roles have become increasingly blurred as the Trump administration pulled agents from a number of federal law enforcement agencies to participate in immigration enforcement. Border Patrol officers are increasingly operating inside the United States, participating in raids with ICE.

ICE and other agencies, in partnership with other federal law enforcement agencies, have deployed hundreds of police officers to cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and now Minneapolis.

As many as 2,000 federal officers will be deployed to Minneapolis as part of the latest operation, the Associated Press reported.

The scale of deportations during the Trump era is quite serious.

The administration said it deported 605,000 people between January 20 and December 10, 2025. He also said 1.9 million immigrants were “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 may face a variety of consequences.

Sometimes a person is temporarily detained, then released after questioning. In other cases, ICE will detain that person and transfer them to a larger detention facility, of which there are many throughout the United States.

Although many immigrants continue to fight for legal status while in detention, they may eventually be deported if they are unsuccessful.

Nearly 65,000 people were in ICE custody as of Nov. 30, 2025, according to data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse’s immigration project, a compendium of government data from Syracuse University.

Immigration lawyers told the BBC that when ICE detains a person, it can sometimes take days for families or lawyers to learn their whereabouts.

Many communities pushed back when partner agencies like ICE and Border Patrol conducted operations.

It is now common for residents to film ICE agents making arrests. Some encounters between ICE and the public have become aggressive or violent.

During ICE operations in Chicago, Illinois, a group of media outlets filed a lawsuit against the Border Patrol. They alleged that agents used inappropriate force against journalists, religious leaders and protesters. A federal judge sided with the group before an appeals court overturned the decision.

The shooting in Minneapolis is not the first time a person was injured during an immigration enforcement operation.

According to the Los Angeles Times, there were two incidents in October in Los Angeles in which agents shot at drivers. DHS said in both cases, drivers threatened officers with their vehicles.

ICE officers and other immigration officers have been criticized for wearing masks while conducting their operations. DHS officials have defended the practice, saying it protects agents from revealing personal information or harassment.

The poll shows Americans have a mixed view of Trump’s immigration enforcement plans.

Just over half believe some level of deportation is necessary, according to an October 2025 poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. That’s nearly the same number as Pew found last March.

But the same poll shows Americans have concerns about Trump’s methods.

It turns out that a majority of US adults (53 percent) believe the Trump administration is doing “too much” to deport undocumented immigrants. About 36% supported the approach.