A fresh dump of internal files suggests Department of Homeland Security officials were well aware of a massive uptick in use of force by ICE agents from almost the moment Kristi Noem was appointed last year.
Only in January, the Homeland Security Secretary, dubbed “ICE Barbie” for her habit of cosplaying as an immigration official, told reporters her agents “are following the law and are running their operations according to training.”
Those comments came just a week after ICE shot widowed mom-of-three Renee Nicole Good dead in a Minneapolis street, and just a week before agents killed a second protester in the city, Alex Pretti.
DHS emails, obtained by watchdog American Oversight and first reported by Politico on Tuesday, now reveal that by March 2025, the department knew it was facing a more than 400 percent increase in use-of-force incidents involving immigration enforcement officials.
At least one person is reported to have died as a result of those encounters. Politico cites a March 10 incident—which saw agents smash the window of a woman’s car and tase an undocumented migrant, who suffered vomiting as a result—as illustrative of reports submitted to the department.
“The emails and documents also do not reflect particular urgency on the part of ICE leadership to respond to that trend,” the outlet writes. “Instead, they show how ICE and DHS officials looked to publicly discuss a different trend—that assaults against officers are also at all-time highs.”
DHS officials have previously insisted its officials exercise “incredible restraint” in the field. The Daily Beast contacted the department for comment on this story.
“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 spokesperson said. “Officers are highly trained in de-escalation tactics and regularly receive ongoing use of force training.”
Good and Pretti’s killings proved a watershed moment for the second Donald Trump administration. At the time, the White House was carrying out Operation Metro Surge, a vast deportation drive across Minnesota as part of its wider immigration crackdown.
Amid outrage over the president’s evidence-defying claims that both victims had been violent rioters, snap polls showed 63 percent of voters now disapprove of ICE’s performance, that 52 percent said its agents were making communities less safe, and that a staggering 46 percent would support abolishing the agency altogether.
