ICE chief warns AI technology could lead to safety risks for agents: 'Fringe organizations'

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5 days ago

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Far-left organizations could be using artificial intelligence and other technology to reveal the identity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told Fox News Digital in an interview.
Lyons' remarks come as Democrats in Congress recently proposed the VISIBLE Act, which would require clear identification of ICE agents and prevent masking of federal immigration authorities in public-facing circumstances.
"If legislation passes to try to unmask ICE agents, they are not allowed to wear them, it runs the risk of agitators, different groups, you know, these fringe organizations using reverse technology, AI, to try to dox their families, try to get their identity, their home addresses," Lyons said of the reaction from agents on the ground. "We've heard elected officials say there shouldn't be any rest for ICE agents or their families.
"So they're definitely concerned about that. They're also concerned about their own well-being when they go out to effectuate these arrests because now we have to send more officers out into the communities because where we can send four or five to make arrests in the past, now we had to send up to eight or 10 just to protect the four that are making the arrests of one individual."
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He added that the safety risk does require more resources when conducting arrests. When ICE was conducting operations in Los Angeles in June, President Donald Trump sent in the California National Guard to the city with the goal of protecting agents and quelling riots. That move was legally challenged by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
"The Marines are withdrawing. This is another win for Los Angeles," Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass posted to X Monday.
ICE agents have faced an 830% increase in assaults since last year, according to DHS. However, proponents of the VISIBLE Act have said it's nessescary for accountability.
"For weeks, Americans have watched federal agents with no visible identification detain people off the streets and instill fear in communities across the country," Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, said in a statement July 8.
"Reports of individuals impersonating ICE officers have only increased the risk to public and officer safety. The lack of visible identification and uniform standards for immigration enforcement officers has created confusion, stoked fear and undermined public trust in law enforcement."
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"Assault could be anything from resisting arrest where they assault the officers, whether they're kicking, grabbing officers. It could be something as dramatic as what we saw in Alvarado, Texas, where we had local police ambushed with firearms," Lyons said.
"You saw it during the recent marijuana grow farm raid operation, where we had an individual firing a handgun at ICE officers, rocks thrown at them. It's everything from verbal assault to physical assault to threats of bodily harm, deadly force. It's run the whole gamut."
Authorities have charged 12 people in an alleged anti-ICE attack at the Prairieland Detention Center on Independence Day, including ten for alleged attempted murder of federal officers and gun offenses. Reports have indicated that some planning occurred through a Signal group chat, and Lyons noted that this was likely planned by the Dallas area activists for some time.
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"Well, the FBI is doing a great job investigating it as a whole organized event," Lyons said. "So, you saw where it was actually organized with social media, where you have organized people in a typical L-shaped ambush where you had escape vehicles. So, without getting too much into what the Department of Justice and the FBI do, there is definitely evidence that this was planned for a while, and it wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment protest. These were agitators focused on assaulting law enforcement officers and assaulting ICE."
In terms of facing these coordinated efforts, the director said it's a matter of planning and looking at the information available before conducting an operation.
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"What we're doing is definitely working with all of our federal partners as well as the state partners that do coordinate with us what we use and all the intelligence that we have at our disposal to go ahead and try to find out as much about these groups and as much as about these organizations and these planned events that we can to let our officers and agents know in the field prior to going out," Lyons said.
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"So, we wanna make sure that officers are fully aware of what the situations they're getting into, but we are also making sure that we're properly staffed when we go out."
In addition, he said recent funding from the "big, beautiful bill" would be to try to bring back personnel that "retired early" under the Biden administration and look at veterans and officials at the local and state levels who "already have the training" to "beef up" staffing at the agency.