The director of ICE is appointed at the sub-cabinet level by the president of the United States, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and reports directly to the secretary of homeland security.

[28] In 2006, Operation Flicker found that there were a number of government employees, including "dozens of Pentagon staff and contractors with high-level security clearance", who had downloaded child pornography.

These teams primarily deploy to handle high-risk operations, but also assist in events such as Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake 2010, and other natural disasters around the globe.

Due to limited staffing, ERO Fugitive Operations typically target illegal immigrants with a history of serious criminal convictions (i.e. homicide, sexual assaults, aggravated felonies).

[33] ERO officers do not randomly target illegal immigrants for detention and civil arrest due to current case law and internal policies.

It is responsible for building and improving relationships, and coordinating activities with state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies and through public engagement.

It also fosters and sustains relationships with federal, state and local government officials and coordinates ICE ACCESS programs (Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security).

ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC) is a division that is responsible for providing direct patient care to approximately 13,500 detainees housed in 21 detention facilities throughout the nation.

In 2018, a total of 19 HSI special agents in Charge or SACs (who are the senior most officials in each investigative division) sent a letter to the DHS Secretary and asked to be formally separated from ICE.

[49] The agency's current duty sidearm, is the SIG Sauer P320C (C for Carry) pistol, chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum hollow-point rounds, utilizing a striker-fired mechanism in lieu of a double action only hammer system.

[51] HSI special agents and ERO officers are trained on standard shoulder fired weapons that include the M4 carbine, chambered for 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition and the 12-gauge Remington 870 shotgun.

In February 2005, ICE began Operation Community Shield, a national law enforcement initiative that targets violent transnational street gangs through the use of ICE's broad law enforcement powers, including the unique and powerful authority to remove criminal immigrants, including illegal immigrants and legal permanent residents.

[57][58] Immigration and Nationality Act Section 287(g) allows ICE to establish increased cooperation and communication with state, and local law enforcement agencies.

Under 287(g), ICE provides state and local law enforcement with the training and subsequent authorization to identify, process, and when appropriate, detain immigration offenders they encounter during their regular, daily law-enforcement activity.

[63] Between 2009 and 2016, the Barack Obama administration oversaw the deporting of a record 2.4 million undocumented immigrants who had illegally entered the United States, earning him the nickname "Deporter-In-Chief" by Janet Murguía, the president of National Council of La Raza.

[citation needed] In 2011, HSI Special Agents Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila, while working in Mexico to combat the flow of illicit narcotics, were ambushed by members of the Los Zetas drug cartel.

[73] Several members of the drug cartel were extradited to the U.S. and charged for the murders, however, the applicable statute revealed a potential loophole that made it inapplicable for violations committed outside the U.S.

[74] In 2005, an undercover HSI special agent was kidnapped in Medellin by members of a Colombian drug cartel, who held him responsible for a buy/bust operation that resulted in the seizure of 217 kilos of cocaine.

The Colombian drug cartel members eventually obtained access to his hotel room safe and retrieved documents that revealed his true identity as a U.S. federal law enforcement officer.

In order to avoid additional scrutiny from the Colombian Security Services, the drug cartel subsequently released the HSI special agent once they determined his true identity.

[80] Engineering and construction firm Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) released a press statement on January 24, 2006, that the company had been awarded a no-bid contingency contract from the Department of Homeland Security to support its ICE facilities in the event of an emergency.

[81] The Intercept published a report by the DHS Office of Inspector General revealing that 1,224 sexual abuse complaints while in immigration custody were filed between January 2010 and June 2017.

[84] In 2020, multiple human rights groups joined a whistleblower to accuse a private-owned U.S. immigration detention centre in Georgia of forcibly sterilizing women.

[86] Jerry Flores, a faculty member at the University of Toronto Mississauga said the alleged treatment of women constituted a violation of human rights and genocide according to the standards of the United Nations.

[87] In September 2020, Mexico demanded more information from US authorities on medical procedures performed on migrants in detention centers, after allegations that six Mexican women were sterilized without their consent.

[89][90][91] There are dozens of Muslim detainees at the facility for whom it is religiously forbidden to consume pork, civil rights groups said in a letter to ICE and federal oversight agencies.

[89] The Muslim detainees at the Krome detention facility in Miami were forced to accept pork because religiously compliant/halal meals that ICE served had been consistently rotten and expired.

[93] As part of the 2018 Trump administration's zero tolerance policy, nearly 3,000[94] minors were separated from their parents, or the adults accompanying them, while trying to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border and placed in detention camps.

When an undocumented non-citizen is arrested by state or local police for criminal offenses, their information is placed into a federal database that ERO officers can access.

[109] Despite this, the Trump administration continued to seek ways to challenge sanctuary cities, such as implementing a policy that preferentially awards policing grants that cooperate with ICE.