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Use of force incidents reported to ICE spiked during the first two months of the second Trump administration despite agents receiving training on respecting individuals’ constitutional rights, according to recently obtained documents.
American Oversight, a nonprofit government watchdog group, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request last year, seeking information on the Trump administration’s plan to escalate immigrant enforcement.
After suing the administration for failing to release the records, American Oversight obtained documents that were published in a report on the group’s website earlier this week. The documents contradict several Trump administration talking points that sought to downplay violence committed by ICE agents over the past year.
The documents show that high-ranking ICE officials were aware of a surge in reporting of excessive violence by agents as far back as March. The training materials also indicate that agents were also trained to respect constitutional rights of those who observed and documented their activities, and that “citizens and noncitizens” could not be“stopped or detained by law enforcement without cause and/or a warrant,” including in their own homes.
“Officers were advised that they must obtain a warrant before searching an individual or making an arrest, and that they are required to identify themselves as immigration enforcement ‘as soon as it is practicable and safe to do so’ when making an arrest,” the report from American Oversight also noted.”The officers were told their badges should be ‘clearly displayed when making a stop for officer safety/liability,’ but were advised they are not required to publicly identify themselves before making an arrest.”
ICE agents and other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immigration officers have failed to observe these rights on multiple occasions, forcing their way into homes without the proper documentation.
The training materials also advised ICE agents that they could use “necessary and reasonable” force to quell “disruptive protesters” — but it also said that agents had a duty to attempt to deescalate the situation and issue warnings of arrest before doing so.
Multiple videos of demonstrations against ICE and other immigration agencies show that agents have ignored this instruction, including in the shooting death of Alex Pretti.
The materials obtained by American Oversight also explicitly informed agents that they cannot enter into people’s homes — including immigrants without documentation — without a judicial warrant, and advised that administrative warrants do not authorize agents to enter homes or businesses.
The materials obtained stated that, in the first two months of 2025, there was a 353 percent increase in the reporting of excessive use of force by ICE agents. Officers in these incidents shattered car windows, deployed chemical agents, used extreme physical force to detain people, and killed at least one individual.
Despite ICE’s increased use of force, the agency tended to ignore its own faults, focusing instead on prosecuting those who allegedly committed violence against agents.
“Emails show 67 incidents of ICE officers’ use of force were reported between Jan. 19 and March 20, 2025. During that same period, 28 assaults on ICE agents were reported,” the report from American Oversight noted, adding that, in response to that smaller number, “the head of ICE’s Office of Firearms and Tactical Program Use of Force Analysis Unit…suggested ways to increase prosecutions [against residents] in these instances.”
“Officials did not make any similar comments on addressing the use of force by ICE officers, though there were more than twice as many of such incidents reported,” the report stated.
In spite of the training provided to agents, immigration officers appear to blatantly disregard their training, with little to no repercussions for agents who have violated those rules.
For example, Aliya Rahman, a disabled Minneapolis resident who was not interfering with ICE activities, was still pulled out of her car and detained by agents while she was on her way to a medical appointment. The agents had demanded that Rahman move her vehicle, even though there was nowhere else for her to go at the time. After dragging her out of the vehicle, they brought her to a detention center, denying her medical care in the process. As a result, Rahman ended up losing consciousness while in custody.
“I’m disabled trying to go to the doctor up there, that’s why I didn’t move,” Rahman later said in an interview.
But according to training materials, ICE agents are told to engage in use of force during vehicle stops only “where probable cause can clearly be established and there is some element of danger or threat.” Force should be “minimal,” and the manual explicitly states that agents do not receive “qualified immunity” for targeting people with “no immediate threat,” the documents state.
In a section titled “Negative Media and Social Media Coverage,” ICE training materials recognize that the prevalence of smartphones and social media means their work will now be documented more widely. The materials also note that such actions — “copwatching” — is “protected by the First Amendment.”
“Be mindful of your words and actions when performing your duties in public as it is likely that bystanders are in possession of recording devices and generally have the right to record you,” the materials state.
Yet there are several examples of ICE and other DHS agents retaliating against people who dare to record them, including wrongly telling those who are recording their actions that it is illegal to follow and document their on-the-job activities.
Despite documented instances of ICE agents breaking the law and ignoring training materials, Trump administration officials have defended their actions as legal.
“Our ICE agents are following the law and are running their operations according to training,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in January.
Chioma Chukwu, the executive director of American Oversight, said the materials the group received from its FOIA request contradict Noem’s claims, showing a “deeply troubling picture of the violent methods used by ICE.”
Residents have been subjected to unnecessary violence from agents, resulting in people being “hospitalized, bystanders swept up in operations, and even the death of a U.S. citizen,” Chukwu told Politico, adding: “These records demonstrate a stark disconnect between the constitutional standards on which ICE claims to train its officers and the abusive and deadly enforcement practices we see detailed in these incident reports and on the streets of American cities in places like Minneapolis.”
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