HSI Launches Independent Branding Amid Heated Immigration Debate
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) launched a major rebranding effort, as the Department of Homeland Security’s principal investigative agency tries to distance itself from its parent agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The reason: HSI believes heated political rhetoric surrounding immigration enforcement interferes with its agents’ ability to investigate criminal cases.
ICE Acting Director Patrick Lechleitner tells the Washington Post that the “independent branding” will allow agents “to work without the undue toxicity that in some places comes with the ICE moniker.”
The rebrand includes a standalone HSI website that does not include the ICE logo. Instead it will prominently feature the HSI badge and emphasize ties to its ultimate parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). HSI employees will receive HSI e-mail addresses.
Frustration Builds Among HSI Agents
Agents were frustrated that many local police departments and public officials refused to cooperate in investigations, particularly in cities with sanctuary city policies that shield migrants from deportation.
The Washington Post reports that agents were “kicked off joint narcotics investigations, heckled at campus career fairs and shunned by crime victims worried they’ll be arrested and deported” and that the “ICE stigma follows them whenever they attempt to work with police departments and public officials.”
Crime Fighting Mission
HSI investigates crime on a global scale, conducting wide-ranging federal criminal investigations into the “illegal movement of people, goods, money, contraband, weapons and sensitive technology into, out of and through the United States.”
HSI’s 6,000 agents investigate everything from drug and weapons smuggling to cyber and financial crime to human trafficking and child exploitation.
It is separate from the better-known ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, which has a narrower focus on detention and deportations.
“We try to the best ability within the entire agency to be apolitical,” said acting director Lechleitner. “We’re not a political organization. We’re a law enforcement, national security, public safety agency. However, it was affecting HSI’s ability to conduct operations and investigations.”
In December 2021, senior HSI agents urged DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to consider making HSI a standalone agency.
The agents said HSI’s affiliation with ICE hurt relations with law enforcement, colleges, and community groups, and made it difficult to recruit new agents and build trust.
It would take an act of Congress to make HSI a standalone agency.
It’s important to note that the reorganization could be “reversed” by a future administration since it is only a policy directive.