What role do ICE agents play in border enforcement?

1. Who ICE is and how it is organized

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the Department of Homeland Security’s investigative arm divided mainly into Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), with legal, administrative and professional responsibility offices supporting those missions ^{[1] [2] [4]}.

2. ERO: interior apprehension, detention and removals, not routine border patrol

ERO’s core job is to identify, arrest, detain, transport and remove people who have violated immigration law inside the United States and to manage detention, bond and supervised release processes; while it deploys assets near the border at times, most ERO work occurs in the interior—not as roving line‑watchers along the frontier ^{[2] [5] [3]}.

3. HSI: investigating transnational crime that crosses borders

HSI functions as ICE’s detective corps: investigating transnational criminal networks that traffic people, drugs, weapons, money and counterfeit goods, using criminal investigative authorities to disrupt cross‑border criminality that affects border security even when the agency itself is not physically patrolling the line ^{[4] [3] [6]}.

4. Where the responsibilities overlap with Border Patrol and CBP

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Border Patrol remain the frontline border‑patrolling agencies, responsible for ports of entry and the 99‑mile border zone, but cooperation is routine and operational lines blur in practice—especially when DHS shifts personnel or coordinates joint operations—so ICE can have significant assets near the border and sometimes detain or search people at entry points ^{[1] [6] [7] [8]}.

5. Powers and activities: arrests, searches, detention and removals

ICE officers and special agents have authority to investigate immigration and customs violations, make arrests in the interior, detain and transport people ordered removed, and initiate removal proceedings; ICE’s FAQ and mission pages also assert that agents may detain and search people crossing the border and that force and de‑escalation policies guide arrests ^{[9] [2] [10]}.

6. Practical effects: workplace raids, public arrests and biometric identification

In practice ERO operations include workplace enforcement and locating individuals who have moved away from the border, and ICE coordinates biometric and biographic identification of priority individuals held in prisons and jails to effect detention and removal ^{[5] [2] [8]}.

7. Political, legal and social flashpoints

ICE’s interior posture and public arrests have provoked legal challenges, protests and debate; reporting documents instances where aggressive public operations drew criticism and court scrutiny for profiling and tactics, underscoring how ICE’s interior enforcement can feel like border enforcement to affected communities ^{[1] [7]}.

8. Institutional mission versus public perception

ICE presents its mission as protecting borders and the integrity of the immigration system through criminal and civil enforcement and cooperation with CBP and other partners, but because ICE removes people from the country and operates in neighborhoods, airports and near ports of entry, public perception often collapses distinct agency roles into a single “border enforcement” image ^{[10] [3] [5]}.

9. Limits of available reporting and unanswered questions

The sources explain ICE’s formal authorities, directorates and emphases but do not provide full operational metrics here about how often ICE conducts activities physically at the border versus only in the interior, nor do they resolve disputes over specific controversial incidents beyond summaries; claims about particular events, tactics or outcomes require case‑by‑case court records and local reporting to confirm ^{[1] [7] [9]}.