Description: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security responsible for identifying, investigating and dismantling transnational criminal organizations and enforcing federal immigration laws in the interior of the United States. ICE's principal components include Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), which manages detention and removal of noncitizens, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which investigates cross‑border criminal activity such as human smuggling, trafficking, cybercrime, and trade fraud. Type: Federal government agency (executive branch, Department of Homeland Security) Policies: Legislative areas that most directly affect ICE operations include immigration enforcement and removal statutes, appropriations and detention funding, border security measures, criminal statutes addressing human smuggling and trafficking and other transnational crime, information‑sharing and data privacy laws, authorization for cooperative programs with state and local law enforcement (e.g., 287(g)), and congressional oversight and accountability provisions. Funding: Primarily funded through federal appropriations to the Department of Homeland Security, supplemented by reimbursements for interagency and state/local agreements and limited asset forfeiture proceeds. Affiliates: Department of Homeland Security; U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS); Department of Justice and the Executive Office for Immigration Review; state and local law enforcement partners (including participants in the 287(g) program); ICE leadership and DHS leadership.
