The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will establish a police force with officers empowered to make arrests, carry firearms and execute search warrants — a major shift that allows the agency to arrest immigrants and their attorneys on fraud charges and to pursue prosecutions and removals without referring all cases to other enforcement arms.
In a DHS press release, the department said the delegation of these authorities also gives the USCIS director the power to order expedited removal of immigrants, permitting deportations to proceed without an immigration hearing in some cases. The agency, which typically handles adjudications of green cards and naturalization applications, will be able to investigate, detain, prosecute and remove people accused of violating immigration laws under the new rule.
The announcement frames the change as an expansion of USCIS’s role within the Department of Homeland Security, aligning more enforcement authority directly under the agency that traditionally has been focused on paperwork, background checks and benefits processing. DHS said the move is intended to enable USCIS to pursue fraud and other violations more directly rather than relying exclusively on referrals to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The shift departs from long-standing practice. Historically, USCIS has been responsible for adjudicating applications for citizenship, permanent residency and other immigration benefits and has not staffed armed officers with arrest powers. Criminal enforcement, detention and removals have typically been carried out by ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
DHS’s action also came as part of a broader immigration enforcement agenda described by the department as an intensification of removal efforts. The department framed the changes as measures to combat fraud and to strengthen integrity in immigration adjudications. The press release said the new authorities would allow USCIS to arrest, prosecute and remove people accused of violating immigration laws rather than transferring those matters to other DHS components.
The newly conferred power of expedited removal, as described by DHS, permits the agency’s director to order removal of an individual without an immigration court hearing in certain circumstances. Expedited removal is an administrative mechanism that has previously been used by other DHS components; assigning that authority to USCIS formally integrates the capability into the agency’s portfolio of tools.
The announcement did not provide detailed information about the timeline for standing up the force, the number of officers to be appointed, training and oversight provisions, or how coordination with ICE and CBP would be managed. DHS said the adjustments reflect changes in policy direction intended to address fraud and protect the integrity of the immigration system.
Advocates, immigration attorneys and civil rights groups have in past debates raised concerns about the expansion of enforcement powers into adjudicatory agencies, citing potential effects on due process and access to legal counsel. The DHS press release accompanying Thursday’s announcement framed the changes as enforcement tools to better detect and deter fraud in immigration benefit processes.
The agency’s new authorities mark a clear departure from its traditional administrative role and represent a consolidation of certain enforcement capabilities within USCIS. How the changes will be implemented and the legal and operational consequences that follow will become clearer as DHS and USCIS publish implementing guidance and as the new authorities are exercised in specific cases.