The Trump administration was aware of an increased use of force by immigration agents during enforcement operations months before fatal shootings in Minneapolis, according to internal emails obtained by a nonprofit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The messages, sent in February and March 2025, indicate that senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials were informed of a rise in reported use-of-force incidents compared with the previous year.
Emails also noted that use-of-force incidents in early March alone had quadrupled year-over-year. In the first two months of 2025, officers reported 67 incidents, nearly four times the 17 incidents reported during the same period in 2024.
"These records paint a deeply troubling picture of the violent methods used by ICE," Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight, a left-leaning organization that has backed lawsuits against the Trump administration, said in a press release Tuesday. "In just the first months of this administration, ICE's own data shows a dramatic spike of nearly 400 percent in use-of-force incidents -- with people hospitalized, bystanders swept up in operations, and even the death of a U.S. citizen."
"Behind every statistic is a person, a family, and a community forced to live with the consequences of ICE's aggressive and inhumane enforcement tactics."
In response, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Newsweek that America could be proud of the professionalism officers were bringing to the job of arresting and removing "dangerous criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, rapists, and gang members" from communities across the country.
"DHS law enforcement officers are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary to de-escalate dangerous situations to prioritize the safety of the public and our officers," a DHS spokesperson told Newsweek. "Officers are highly trained in de-escalation tactics and regularly receive ongoing use of force training. The agency's current use of force policy is the same as it was in 2023 under President Biden's administration."
The spokesperson went on to outline 23 separate incidents in which federal agents had allegedly been attacked or injured while carrying out their duties, including sharing the image of the end of an officer's finger which a protester was accused of biting off in Minneapolis.
The emails, shared with Newsweek on Tuesday, were obtained by American Oversight, which filed a FOIA request seeking records on ICE enforcement and use-of-force practices. They were first reported by Politico.
Caleb Vitello, the former acting ICE Director, received the briefings, showing that leadership was aware of the increase in the use of force well before enforcement actions in Minneapolis became highly scrutinized.
In one particular incident, on March 10, 2025, Border Patrol and ICE officers broke the windows of a woman's car while attempting to detain two undocumented individuals in Washington, according to the emails. During the encounter, one of the individuals was tased and subsequently required medical attention after experiencing vomiting and sustaining minor scratches.
The scene was similar to others that played out across the U.S. in the early months of the second White House term of President Donald Trump, but emails also highlighted that ICE officials, including Vitello, acknowledged agents were increasing their use of force against civilians, American Oversight told Newsweek.
DHS has repeatedly said that its agents are consistently having to deal with increased aggression from both immigrants and U.S. citizens. In the department's response to American Oversight's reporting on Tuesday, the department spokesperson told Newsweek that agents had been boxed in, assaulted, and shot at by rioters seeking to get in the way of immigration enforcement during various incidents in recent months.
One such incident, on October 2, saw officers become the targets of two separate vehicular assaults in the Chicago metro area, DHS said. Illegal immigrants "weaponized their vehicles," the spokesperson said, in what were seen as deliberate attempts to ram and injure officers.
Two days later, again in Chicago, agents were rammed and boxed in by up to 10 vehicles, before suspects fled. One agent fired defensively, according to the spokesperson.
The list included other incidents in Dallas, San Diego, Maine, New York City, and Colorado Springs over several months, showing a pattern of clashes between federal agents and locals.
Vitello was told on March 20 that agents had reported the rise in use of force incidents, with American Oversight telling Newsweek that the statistics indicated a far larger number of incidents had taken place compared to those reported in the media.
Vitello and others responded by saying they wanted to focus on the actions of civilians toward officers.
"Sure thing, of note is the huge increase in LEO [Law Enforcement Officer] assaults. I know Charleston incorporated 18 USC 111 into Prosecutions training a couple years ago, they may be able to package up a summary of the needed elements of the crime, definitions of what constitutes assault, etc., with the intent of broadcasting to the workforce in an effort to drive more presentations for prosecution," read one email to Vitello from March 20.
The disclosures coincide with Operation Metro Surge winding down in Minnesota, the latest in a string of high-profile operations which DHS has said are aimed at detaining illegal immigrant criminals. Under the ICE and Border Patrol operation that began in December 2025, federal officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, prompting public protests and congressional inquiries.
The surge and its tactics have sparked criticism and backlash nationwide, with local officials, lawmakers, and immigrant rights advocates questioning whether federal agents respected civil liberties and used appropriate use‑of‑force standards.
"What's more, 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," said Chukwu.
The president and his Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, as well as senior DHS officials, have all insisted that ICE and other federal agents are sticking to their training and that it is rhetoric from Democratic leaders which has caused the sometimes-violent clashes.
American Oversight told Newsweek that getting an accurate picture of what reality was within DHS had become harder over the past year with data on incidents not being readily available. That view has also been repeated by Democrats in Congress who have sought to hold Noem and DHS more widely to account and bring about ICE reform.
During a Senate hearing last week, Democratic Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal pressed the current acting ICE Director Todd Lyons about agents using force when entering immigrants' homes to arrest them without a judicial warrant, which has raised concerns by some that individuals' Fourth Amendment rights could be infringed.
Lyons pointed to case law that allows such moves, but Blumenthal pushed back.
"It does not abrogate the Fourth Amendment," Blumenthal said during the February 12 hearing. "It does not say that ICE agents or CBP agents can simply bash down doors and barge into people's homes, terrorize their children, detain and arrest people without judicial warrants and there is nothing different about what ICE does as to compared to the FBI or local police that would justify. The policy that they are acting under in fact is result memo issued May; you familiar it."
Lyons said he was; said believed policy "blasted out..." before senator cut off, saying Congress learned change thanks two whistleblowers.
That memo issued May said agents use so-called I-205 forms enter homes final orders removal.
"The records include a memo authorizing the use of controversial extra-judicial warrants for removal along with documents showing that training instructors were directed tell anyone asked practice under review," Chukwu said. "This suggests ICE knows its practices deeply problematic -- deliberately hiding ball avoid public scrutiny."
Last week it revealed Trump's border czar Tom Homan warned interview last year using excessive force carrying sweeping operations backfire; Americans wanted targeted operations which caused disruption unrest communities.
On Tuesday,DHS defended its agents with spokesperson saying under Trump Noem,"ICE officers held highest professional standard regularly ongoing training."
"As our officer put lives line arresting murderers,pedophiles,gang members terrorists,facing coordinated campaign violence including more than 1,300 percent increase assaults against them;8,000 percent increase death threats;3,200 percent increase vehicle attacks against them," spokesperson continued.
"Comparing ICE day-in day-out Nazi Gestapo;Secret Police;slave patrols consequences.Men women ICE fathers mothers;sons daughters.Get up every morning try make communities safer.Like everyone else just want go home families night.Violence dehumanization men women simply enforcing law stop."