What is ICE's real job?
Executive summary
The core, legally defined job of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is to enforce federal laws that protect homeland security and public safety by investigating cross‑border crime, enforcing customs and trade rules, and managing interior immigration enforcement including detention and removal of noncitizens [1] [2] [3]. Operationally that work is concentrated in two directorates—Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for transnational criminal probes and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) for apprehension, detention and deportation—under an agency created after 9/11 to merge customs and immigration enforcement functions [4] [5] [6].
1. Mission and statutory authority: what the books say
ICE’s stated mission is to protect the United States from cross‑border crime and illegal immigration by enforcing more than 400 federal statutes that span customs, trade, immigration, and criminal laws; that legal remit is the basis for its investigative and enforcement powers [1] [4] [7]. The agency was formed as part of the Department of Homeland Security reorganization following the Homeland Security Act, inheriting investigative roles from the former Customs Service and immigration functions from the INS [6] [3].
2. Two operational pillars: HSI versus ERO
ICE’s two primary and distinct law‑enforcement components frame its “real job”: HSI is the principal investigative arm that targets transnational criminal organizations, trafficking, financial crime and terrorist exploitation of customs and immigration systems, while ERO executes interior enforcement—identifying, arresting, detaining and removing noncitizens who are subject to removal [4] [3] [5]. Those directorates have different tools and metrics: HSI runs international investigations and disruption operations, ERO manages custody, removal logistics, and compliance with final removal orders [3] [5].
3. Day‑to‑day activities: investigations, custody, and removals
On the ground, ICE agents and special agents carry out criminal and civil enforcement actions: HSI conducts long‑term transnational investigations into drug, weapons, human smuggling and contraband networks while ERO conducts targeted interior arrests, operates detention facilities, and coordinates removals including overseas repatriation efforts [4] [5] [8]. ICE also administers programs and data collections—such as student and exchange visitor information—and provides legal counsel and oversight through offices like OPLA and custodial management divisions [9] [3] [5].
4. Where ICE fits in the homeland security ecosystem
ICE is one piece of a multi‑agency immigration system: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) enforces immigration laws at and between ports of entry, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) adjudicates benefits, and ICE is charged primarily with interior enforcement and investigations that cross borders and jurisdictions, often partnering with state, local and foreign law enforcement [10] [2] [8]. As the principal investigative arm of DHS it is one of the department’s largest law enforcement components and is resourced accordingly [6] [3].
5. Priorities, politics, and public accountability
What ICE actually does in practice is also shaped by policy priorities and political directives: recent executive guidance and White House orders have directed DHS and ICE to emphasize enforcement of final removal orders and to prioritize threats to national security and public safety, reflecting shifting administrative priorities that affect what cases HSI and ERO pursue [11]. The ERO function in particular is publicly contentious—a flashpoint in debates over detention, deportation and civil liberties—underscoring that the agency’s job is both operational and political [4].
6. Bottom line: answering “what is ICE’s real job?”
ICE’s real job, as defined by statute and by its own organizational structure, is to use investigative, detention and removal authorities to protect national security and public safety from transnational crime and immigration violations—investigating and disrupting criminal networks (HSI), and apprehending, detaining and removing noncitizens who violate immigration laws (ERO)—all within the broader DHS system that divides border, adjudication and interior roles among different agencies [1] [4] [5] [10]. Sources document the legal mandates, structure, budgetary scale and policy levers that translate that mission into everyday enforcement, even as politics and public scrutiny continue to shape which parts of the job are emphasized [3] [11] [4].