Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling warns the public that ICE agents are federal law-enforcement officers authorized to make arrests and defend themselves if attacked. Photo courtesy of the Chicago Police Department.
Instagram and other social media posts have spread false claims that ICE agents are not law enforcement, have no authority over citizens, and that citizens or even illegal aliens should resist them. These posts also falsely claim that people are not required to comply with ICE orders, that ICE lacks arrest power without a warrant, or that ICE cannot arrest a citizen. All of this is untrue. These misconceptions are fueling resistance to ICE, including escalating violence and chaos.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said during a press conference the day after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in self-defense that ICE personnel are sworn law enforcement officers and must be treated as such.
Snelling said that when federal agents are boxed in by vehicles, it is reasonable for them to believe they are being ambushed and that the situation could quickly become deadly. “If you box them in with vehicles, it is reasonable for them to believe that they are being ambushed,” he said, adding that officers are justified in using force in self-defense under those conditions.
He warned the public not to interfere with law enforcement operations, stressing that boxing in any officer is illegal and dangerous. “You are breaking the law when you do that, and you are putting yourself in danger,” Snelling said. He added that officers are justified in viewing individuals who persistently follow them as potential threats.
Addressing the use of vehicles as weapons, Snelling was explicit. He said that intentionally ramming a vehicle carrying law enforcement officers constitutes deadly force, regardless of whether the officers are local, state, federal, or county. “Deadly force is anything that can cause great bodily harm or death. When you plow into a vehicle that contains law enforcement agents, you’re using deadly force.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law-enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security. ICE agents are sworn federal officers with badges, credentials, and arrest authority granted by Congress under Title 8 and Title 18 of the U.S. Code. ICE is not a civilian regulatory body. Its agents carry firearms, execute warrants, make arrests, conduct criminal investigations, and work jointly with the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshals, and state and local police.
ICE agents receive standardized federal law-enforcement training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, the same system used by most federal agencies. Their training includes constitutional law, use of force and de-escalation, arrest procedures, firearms qualification, defensive tactics, search and seizure, and civil rights protections. They are not contractors, volunteers, or freelancers. They are career federal officers.
While U.S. citizens cannot commit immigration violations, that does not mean ICE lacks authority over citizens. ICE agents may arrest citizens for federal crimes unrelated to immigration, temporarily detain individuals to determine identity or status when reasonable suspicion exists, execute criminal arrest and search warrants, and arrest anyone who assaults, resists, obstructs, or interferes with a federal officer. If a citizen assaults an ICE agent, blocks an arrest, drives into an agent, or refuses lawful orders during an enforcement action, that is a federal crime. Citizenship does not grant immunity from law enforcement.
ICE agents, like other federal officers, may issue lawful commands during stops, arrests, warrant executions, and active investigations. Refusing to comply can result in arrest for obstruction or resisting a federal officer. Claims that ICE agents are “not real police” are legally false and dangerous. Violence against ICE agents is a serious federal felony carrying severe penalties, including prison time. Political disagreement with immigration policy is not a legal defense.
Much of the confusion comes from conflating civil immigration violations, criminal law-enforcement authority, and political opposition to immigration policy. Opposing immigration enforcement does not alter ICE’s legal status. Statutes, court rulings, and decades of precedent are unambiguous on this point.
Superintendent Snelling’s words are a crucial warning to activists and the public that violence and interference with ICE must stop. Unfortunately, very few public officials are delivering similar messages. Instead, some are encouraging resistance against federal law enforcement. At the same time, they complain about the allegedly brutal handling of deportations while failing to encourage illegal immigrants to self-deport.
Mayor Johnson issued an “ICE-free zone” executive order banning federal agents from using city property for deportation operations and called for criminal charges against federal agents who violate the order, stating that “anyone who commits a crime should be charged.” Snelling directly contradicted this position, stating that Chicago police “will not and cannot arrest federal agents because someone deems what they are doing is illegal.”
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