DENVER — As Colorado leaders prepare for the possibility of an increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE ) operations in the state, a legal expert is sharing insight into the historic role federal agents and local police officers play in keeping communities safe and how those roles are changing under the Trump administration.
“Historically, federal agents have played a very, very small role in policing. Almost every cop in America is employed by a municipality, by a city, by a county. The number of federal agents compared to local police is quite small," said Jonathon Booth, an associate professor of law at CU's Law School.
He told Denver7 that while there's about 3,000 ICE agents in Minneapolis, which he said is about 15-20% of the total, the number of ICE agents currently there is smaller than the NYPD. "Historically, the federal government has had a very small role in policing."
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Booth said that small role from the federal government is because federal agents typically serve a very specific purpose.
“The FBI is only about 100 years old. Other agencies, such as ICE — which was formed this millennium — the DEA, these other federal policing agencies, they're new, they're small, they're supposed to have a limited scope," Booth said. "ICE is about immigration, the DEA is about drugs, etc. They're not meant to be in our streets every day, policing, day-to-day interactions with citizens."
He added Denver7 that's what local governments and local police are for.
"What we've seen this year, really, is an enormous shift in the role of federal police agencies, they really never acted in local in cities, in towns, to the degree that they are acting today,” Booth said.
Booth also noted the increase in federal agents policing every day citizens can heighten already tense situations, such as protests.
“Some of these ICE agents are brand new. Have very little training. Others have been around longer, but they still are encountering an entirely new type of relationship with the public that they're not used to," Booth said. "And I do think that, at least partially, explains some of the clashes that we've seen," Booth said.
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Booth said another complication can be linked to statements Trump advisor Stephen Miller and Vice President J.D. Vance have made over the past few days, saying federal agents have "total immunity" — a statement Booth and many other legal experts said is false.
“But they (federal agents) are much harder to hold accountable than local police,” Booth said.
In Colorado, qualified immunity, which protects government officials (such as police officers from civil liability unless they violate "clearly established" statutory or constitutional rights) no longer includes law enforcement officers.
“As for the qualified immunity aspect, this does get into some complicated legal territory where somehow, ironically, it's much easier if your rights are violated by a local police officer. It's much easier to sue and to win than if your rights are violated by a federal officer, which in some ways seems backwards," Booth said.
He said the Constitution is supposed to protect U.S. citizens against the federal government, but "due to the Supreme Court decisions over the last couple decades, there are very, very few routes."
"If, for example, as we've seen, an ICE agent breaks into your house without a warrant and arrests you, if the local police did that, you would have a slam dump lawsuit," he said.
Booth said although difficult, right now, local district attorneys can act to hold federal agents accountable if they violate the law.
