What exactly are American ICE agents and what can they do?

Explainer - America has been in an uproar the past week over the actions of ICE agents - Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers - after the shooting death of a US citizen.

The death last week of 37-year-old Minneapolis woman Renee Nicole Good raised more questions about what exactly ICE agents are, and what they can do.

The shooting, captured on video, has fired up protests around America, strong defences of ICE agent actions by US President Donald Trump and others, and stirred concerns about accountability and the use of force. It's also signalled increased conflicts between federal - the broader American government - and state and local authorities.

Here is what we know about ICE agents and the powers they have.

What are ICE agents? Are they police? Or are they soldiers?

They're neither, exactly. They are part of the US Department of Homeland Security and are immigration enforcement agents. That means they're federal law enforcement charged with investigating illegal immigration and removing violators.

Under Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration, ICE has expanded significantly and carried out immigration enforcement activity in cities all around the country including Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and Los Angeles.

"ICE is a paramilitary organisation with powers of arrest and detention under its own set of rules," said Paul Buchanan, a New Zealand-based security and defence analyst.

Buchanan said there's nothing quite like ICE in New Zealand law enforcement.

"NZ has no equivalent, nor do many other countries that have gendarmes and/or military police because ICE does not engage in usual police activities such as crime-fighting, traffic law enforcement, etc," he said.

"Like the US Marshals, they act as uniformed bounty-hunters, minus the bounty and with immigrants rather than fugitives from justice as their prey."

What's their history?

ICE was formed after the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, as part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. That act created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), of which ICE is a subsidiary.

The initial focus of the DHS was preventing foreign terrorism, but it has changed quite a lot under Trump. Immigration enforcement isn't new - former President Barack Obama was called the "deporter-in-chief" by some rights groups and more than 3 million were deported during his terms in office. But the raids and action seen across large American cities is an escalation.

"Its focus has shifted from counter-terrorism to a much more broad, some would say amorphous concept of immigration law enforcement," Buchanan said.

Last year, Trump signed a budget bill that included a massive increase to an overall US$170 billion (NZ$305b) toward federal immigration enforcement agencies, of which $75b (NZ$130b) is going to ICE over the next four years.

The current Secretary of Homeland Security in charge of the department is Kristi Noem, the former governor of North Dakota.

ICE agents are not quite the same as Customs officials or the US Border Patrol, which is also part of the Department of Homeland Security, although they all can deal with issues at the border or with immigration.

Border Patrol generally works within 100 miles (160km) of the US border and they have broad powers to stop, question and search individuals and vehicles within that limit without warrants or probable cause. However, they must still satisfy the requirements of the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.

What are ICE agents allowed to do?

The frequently viral images and video of masked, armed ICE agents taking people into custody around America have surprised many.

"When compared to local law enforcement and other federal security agencies like the FBI, Secret Service, Capitol Police, Military Police and US Marshals, they have extremely broad and discretionary coercive powers," Buchanan said.

ICE agents do not need judicial warrants to make arrests, although they are not allowed to enter private homes without warrants. They have made arrests in public areas such as parking lots or apartment building lobbies.

"All aliens who violate US immigration law are subject to arrest and detention, regardless of their criminal histories," ICE states on its website.

"Like all other law enforcement officers, ICE officers and agents can initiate consensual encounters and speak with people, briefly detain aliens when they have reasonable suspicion that the aliens are illegally present in the United States, and arrest people they believe are illegal aliens," the site goes on to explain.

There have been lawsuits accusing ICE of racial profiling in their sweeps of American cities which have made their way to the US Supreme Court - which ruled in September those raids could continue.

In some cases ICE agents can even arrest US citizens if they interfere with their duties, but they aren't supposed to place them in immigration detention - although this has reportedly happened in some cases anyway.

What about the use of force?

According to data assembled by The Trace, an independent journalism website that focuses on American gun violence, there have been 16 incidents where immigration agents opened fire since the beginning of Trump's second term last January. Four people have been killed.

A DHS policy memo from 2023 - before Trump's return to the White House - 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 themself or another person.

That policy memo also states employees should be trained in "de-escalation tactics and techniques."

Notably in the case of Renee Good, that memo also says DHS officers and agents are "prohibited from discharging firearms at the operator of a moving vehicle ... unless the use of deadly force against the operator is justified under the standards articulated elsewhere in this policy."

The Trump administration says that force was justified in the case of Good, but protesters and many Minneapolis officials vehemently disagree.

ICE agents aren't required to wear body cameras or provide badge numbers, Axios has reported.

What qualifications do you need to join ICE?

There's no requirement to have law enforcement or military experience to be an ICE agent, although many of its employees do have some background in those areas.

According to ICE's website, its deportation officers are only required to be a US citizen, have a driver's license and be eligible to carry a firearm. You are not required to have a university degree. For some positions, even a high school diploma is not required.

Would-be ICE agents are required to take about eight weeks of training in topics such as firearms, immigration law and managing crises, for six days a week.

In 2018, the training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia lasted 20 weeks, but DHS has since cut that back to eight weeks, the Washington Post reported, with DHS saying in a statement that it was "to cut redundancy and incorporate technology advancements."

A press release in August announced ICE would waive age limits for new applicants "so even more patriots will qualify to join ICE in its mission to arrest murderers, pedophiles, gang members, rapists, and other criminal illegal aliens from America's streets." It also is offering up to US$50,000 (NZ$87,000) signing bonuses and enhanced benefits, with the agency at one point reporting more than 150,000 applications.

The agency has been on a major hiring spree since last year. It is reportedly aiming to spend US$100m over the next year on what it's calling a "wartime recruitment" drive, including "people who have attended UFC fights, listened to patriotic podcasts, or shown an interest in guns and tactical gear," the Washington Post reported.

The issue of their training and "rules of engagement" is critical, Buchanan said.

Why do they wear masks?

ICE agents are typically seen in public wearing face masks, which until recently has not been common among US police.

The US government allows this to prevent public doxxing "which can (and has) placed them and their families at risk," the ICE website says.

The argument has been that ICE agents are being "outed" on social media, Buchanan said.

"DHS says that this is required because ICE agents face exposure and retaliation if their identities are revealed, which is something that the current administration is reiterating when justifying the murder of an unarmed US citizen by an ICE agent in Minneapolis...

"No other law enforcement agency in the US has this degree of non-transparency."

Defending masking, DHS has claimed in media statements that there has been a "1300 percent increase in assaults, a 3200 percent increase in vehicular attacks against them and an 8000 percent increase in death threats" which it blamed on "radical rhetoric by sanctuary politicians."

However, some analysis by American media contradicts that claim.

Buchanan said ICE agent masking stands out from other American agencies.

"Even the FBI and US Marshals have to announce who they are and why they are conducting operations (and have warrants in order to have legal authority to do so), and there are laws in place that make malicious revealing of a federal security agency employee a felony (say, by doxxing or other forms of social media "outing").

"So the level of ICE opaqueness is extraordinary, especially in peacetime."

States and the wider government are increasingly in conflict on the issue of masks. California passed a law banning law enforcement including ICE from wearing masks that took effect on January 1, although it's being challenged by the Trump administration and will face court hearings.

Are ICE agents being held to the same standards other law enforcement officials are?

That's the big question after the death of Renee Nicole Good.

Noem has said that as she drove away from ICE officers, Good "weaponised her car" in a "domestic terror attack". But plentiful video was shot at the scene of the incident, which is still under investigation.

Democrats are pushing for a variety of measures to rein in ICE, but as Republicans control both houses of Congress and the White House, it's uncertain if any will pass.

Buchanan said there are many questions about ICE's actions and accountability.

"In my opinion ICE has too much discretionary authority and too loose controls over the use of force, including lethal force.

"Besides concerns that ICE is turning into Trump's private militia under the guise of being a public security agency, the way in which ICE operates almost inevitably sets up a clash with local government and law enforcement."

The FBI is leading the investigation into the Minnesota shooting and after an initial agreement for a joint federal-state probe, announced it would block state investigators from participating in it.

Typically, federal and local authorities work together on prominent cases.

The Good case has seen a flurry of activity from the Trump administration defending ICE actions and a flood of protests against it.

In a press conference, Vice President JD Vance blamed the "far left" for attacks on law enforcement and said the killing of Good was a "tragedy of her own making."

But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey had strong words after Good's death last week: "I have a message for ICE: Get the f- out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here."

Buchanan warned of the possibility of "mini civil wars" in places where the backlash against ICE is extreme, as local government and communities push back against some of the Trump administration agenda.

"When ICE shows up and starts raiding, detaining, injuring and now killing people in jurisdictions where the local communities and government do not want them there, that sets up a confrontations dynamic that is pernicious in the extreme."

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