The FBI will reportedly no longer investigate ICE

According to New York Timesfederal agents were told that the FBI would no longer investigate encounters involving ICE agents. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice denied the policy change The times.

The reported change in guidance comes after renewed scrutiny Violence by ICE Agents who killed two people in the past two weeks. Shooting in who and Texas These were just the latest civilian deaths at the hands of ICE agents who attempted to Intimidation of witnesses In the wake of the recent killing spree of prominent figures.

The new directive would end FBI investigations into assaults on Department of Homeland Security agents. The government aggressively pursued cases against protesters and others who had fleeting, unintentional physical contact with agents. But these felony assault cases routinely fall apart, with nearly half of them ending in acquittals, or charges being dismissed or withdrawn. times analysis.

While FBI investigations are ostensibly intended to help the government bring charges against protesters and others, they often provide evidence against officers that can be used in future prosecutions against them.

Under the change, responsibility for investigating cases involving federal immigration officers would likely fall to Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of ICE, effectively leaving the agency to investigate itself… Homeland Security Investigations does not have jurisdiction to investigate civil rights violations, so putting the change into effect would make it less likely that shootings of unarmed people by ICE agents would be investigated to determine whether the agents violated federal law.