ICE is not a monolith. It’s a network of roles, ranks, and divisions all working to detain, deport, and disappear people. Understanding how each agent fits into the system helps identify who holds responsibility, who signs off on what, and who’s directly involved in harm.

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)

The ERO branch handles arrests, detentions, and deportations. These are the agents most people encounter during raids, check-ins, and in detention facilities.

Deportation Officers

• Responsible for issuing removal orders, coordinating with jails, and managing cases
• Often work closely with private contractors and field office directors
• Sign paperwork that leads to plane removals and family separations

Detention and Transportation Officers

• Manage prisoner transport between facilities and to airports
• Work with private transport firms like G4S and Trailboss
• Frequently present during physical removals

Field Office Directors

• High-level supervisors who control policy at the regional level
• Sign off on enforcement priorities, mass raids, and transfers
• Often serve as the final approval before deportations

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)

This wing focuses on “national security” and investigative work — but often uses its tools to justify racial profiling, surveillance, and tech-driven raids.

Special Agents

• Conduct surveillance, digital forensics, and long-term investigations
• Work on immigration fraud cases, but also infiltrate activist spaces

Intelligence Officers

• Work behind the scenes pulling data from license plate readers, databases, and facial recognition tools
• Partner with Palantir, Clearview, and other surveillance firms

Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA)

These are the ICE lawyers who try to block asylum claims and push for deportations in court.

Trial Attorneys

• Represent ICE in immigration court
• Argue against release or protection, even in child or humanitarian cases

Supervisory Legal Advisors

• Oversee regional legal teams
• Set strategy for high-volume deportation courts

Collaborators

Not every actor is formally employed by ICE, but many carry out its mission.

Local Law Enforcement Liaisons

• Sheriffs and police who collaborate via 287(g) or informal communication
• Tip off ICE about arrests and immigration status

Private Contractors

• Provide guards, medical staff, food, and transport
• Profit off detention, and often face zero consequences for abuse

Every one of these roles contributes to the system. Some write the policy. Some carry it out. Some just look the other way. We name all of them.