What official DHS or ICE memos exist on the status of SIG Sauer P320 service pistols and their replacement timeline?
Executive summary
A July 9, 2025 internal memorandum -- reported and authenticated by outlets including The Trace and obtained by Breitbart -- directed ICE Authorized Officers to stop carrying SIG Sauer P320 pistols and said the agency’s firearms division should procure a replacement “as soon as practicable,” but ICE and DHS have not issued a broadly public, detailed policy notice explaining a formal timeline or public justification . SIG Sauer and subsequent contract notices complicate the picture: SIG announced ICE extended a P320 contract through July 2027 while reporting and acquisition notices indicate ICE awarded a replacement Glock contract and planned a transition .
1. The memo that set off the storm: a July 9, 2025 directive reported as authentic
Multiple reporters published an internal DHS/ICE memo dated July 9, 2025 that, according to the text reviewed by The Trace, directed ICE officers to discontinue carrying all models of the SIG P320 and instructed the agency’s firearms division to acquire a replacement “as soon as practicable,” language later echoed by other outlets that obtained or reproduced the memo [1]. The Trace and We Are The Mighty present the memo as authenticated or obtained from internal sources, and conservative outlets such as Breitbart and Bearing Arms published versions or summaries of the same memo .
2. What the memo actually says — and what it doesn’t
The portions of the July 9 memorandum circulated in reporting explicitly revoke authorization for ICE personnel to carry specified P320 models and call for replacement procurement, but those published extracts do not include a detailed, agency-wide replacement schedule, nor do they publicly attach a formal deadline beyond the “as soon as practicable” procurement direction that agencies typically use when ordering rapid but administratively bounded changes [1]. Reporters note that the memo does not provide a technical safety analysis in-line with the directive, and DHS/ICE responded to media inquiries by declining to comment on leaked internal documents while saying only that equipment reviews are routine .
3. Conflicting documentary signals: contract renewals and manufacturer statements
SIG Sauer issued statements and a company press release saying ICE extended its existing P320 contract through July 2027, framing that as an official two‑year extension and disputing that DHS had raised safety concerns; SIG also publicly urged ICE to release testing data . At the same time, reporting and acquisition notices published later in July and August 2025 record ICE actions or contract awards moving toward Glock 19 MOS platforms and internal directives to transition, creating a factual tension between the leaked internal memo and SIG’s contract announcement .
4. Wider context: other agencies, testing, and litigation that shaped the memo
The memo arrived amid a wave of agency actions and public scrutiny of the P320 platform: the Air Force Global Strike Command paused use of the M18 variant following a fatal on-duty shooting; the FBI’s Ballistic Research Facility published an evaluation in 2025 that fueled media coverage; and numerous civil lawsuits over alleged unintentional discharges have kept the pistol in the headlines — factors reporters cite as the backdrop to DHS/ICE’s internal decision-making . These external pressures help explain why an internal directive would prioritize a rapid equipment change even as procurement law and existing contracts can slow an immediate hardware swap .
5. Assessment, agendas, and what remains unverified
Reporting from investigative outlets (The Trace) and conservative outlets (Breitbart, Bearing Arms) converge on the existence of the July 9 memo but diverge on interpretation and emphasis; SIG’s public relations and contract notices push a counter-narrative that a formal contract extension to 2027 undermines claims of an immediate ban . What is not available in the public reporting set provided here is an official, fully transparent DHS or ICE public memo that includes procurement schedules, stock turn-in procedures, or legal rationale beyond the leaked text; likewise, ICE’s public statements have been limited, and that gap allows competing narratives to persist .