Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Abbreviation	ICE
Logo of ICE
Badge of a Homeland Security Investigations special agent
Flag of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Motto	"Protecting National Security and Upholding Public Safety"
Agency overview
Formed	March 1, 2003; 14 years ago (2003-03-01)
Preceding agencies	Criminal investigation resources of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service Investigative and intelligence resources of the United States Customs Service
Employees	19,330+ (2014)
Annual budget	$5.34 billion (2014)
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Federal agency	United States
Constituting instrument	Homeland Security Act of 2002
General nature	Federal law enforcement Civilian agency
Operational structure
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Agency executives	Thomas Homan (acting), Director of ICE Daniel Ragsdale, Deputy Director of ICE Derek Benner (acting), Executive Associate Director for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Philip Miller (acting), Executive Associate Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)
Parent agency	U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Website
ice.gov

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is an American federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responsible for identifying, investigating, and dismantling vulnerabilities regarding the nation's border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security. ICE has two primary components: Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). Headquartered in Washington, D.C., ICE is charged with the investigation and enforcement of over 400 federal statutes within the United States, and maintains attachés at major U.S. embassies overseas.

ICE is led by a director who is appointed at the sub-Cabinet level by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security. ICE is the second-largest criminal investigative agency in the U.S. government after the FBI.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was formed pursuant to the Homeland Security Act of 2002 following the events of September 11, 2001. With the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security the functions and jurisdictions of several border and revenue enforcement agencies were combined and consolidated into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Consequently, ICE is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, and the second largest contributor to the nation's Joint Terrorism Task Force.

The agencies that were either moved entirely or merged in part into ICE included the investigative and intelligence resources of the United States Customs Service, the criminal investigative, detention and deportation resources of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Federal Protective Service. The Federal Protective Service was later transferred from ICE to the National Protection and Programs Directorate effective October 28, 2009. In 2003, Asa Hutchinson moved the Federal Air Marshals Service from the Transportation Security Administration to ICE, but Chertoff moved them back to the TSA in 2005.