Giving Compass' Take:
- Candice Norwood spotlights how advocacy group the Ohio Immigrant Alliance is monitoring previously untracked ICE criminal histories, particularly of violence against women.
- What might it look like to implement meaningful accountability measures and vetting processes for ICE and CBP agents?
- Ask a custom question to find other nonprofits focused on immigrants' rights.
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No comprehensive, publicly available data exists tracking immigration agents who have a record of violence against women and children. One organization is attempting to fill some of that gap. The Ohio Immigrant Alliance, a grassroots advocacy group, has compiled a list of 152 agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) who have either faced administrative disciplinary action or criminal penalties for allegations of violent crimes.
The report, published Tuesday, is an expansion of findings released by the advocacy group in July. The organization identified cases involving the arrests of ICE or CBP personnel by looking at court documents, reports from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, the Department of Justice website, news reports and other publicly available records. The group then compiled a list of 152 ICE and CBP agents who have been accused, arrested, charged or convicted in connection to a range of violent crimes between 1982 and 2026. All but one of the alleged offenders on the list are men.
Critics have raised concerns about the vetting and training of immigration and border patrol officers as the administration continues a historic hiring spree.
The report notes that the dataset is not “a comprehensive review of every ICE or Border Patrol agent who has ever committed a crime,” adding that they “chose to focus on agents who committed sexual and violent crimes.”
An analysis by The 19th indicates that 73 percent of the people on this list were categorized by the Ohio Immigrant Alliance as being criminally charged or convicted and sentenced related to sexual offenses. Fifty percent were categorized as being criminally charged or sentenced related to crimes against minors. The alleged crimes include abduction and sexual assault of a minor, unauthorized access and use of intimate digital photos, possessing child sexual abuse materials, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, domestic violence and strangulation.
Read the full article about ICE violence against women by Candice Norwood at The 19th.