State Department Agents Are Now Working With ICE on Immigration

As the Trump administration expands its crackdown on immigration, it’s pulling more and more agencies into the effort. The State Department’s law enforcement arm, the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), is now working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on immigration. DSS agents are taking part in immigration enforcement in the US, and, according to emails viewed by WIRED, are now being asked to log time they are spending on immigration enforcement. DSS’s remit is limited in scope to specific issues like visa and passport fraud as well as the protection of the Secretary of State and foreign dignitaries visiting the US, according to its website and sources at the agency. DSS agents are based in US field offices, which are US-based State Department offices, and its embassies and consulates abroad. In an ICE press release from June 2 describing the detention of nearly 1,500 people in Massachusetts, the agency noted that it had worked with the DSS, among other law enforcement agencies. DSS Boston Special Agent in Charge Matthew O’Brien said in the release that, “The Diplomatic Security Service is proud to work with our federal law enforcement partners in support of major enforcement operations like this which undoubtedly make our communities safer and strengthens our national security.” Immigration enforcement, according to one DSS worker who spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, is solidly outside the usual duties of DSS agents. They were surprised when they saw the press release and an accompanying video on the agency’s YouTube channel highlighting the Service’s immigration work. But two sources who spoke to WIRED say that participating in immigration enforcement is entirely new for the security service, which specializes in a narrow zone of law enforcement. “We never do that because it's not within our authority,” a current DSS employee says of previous agency actions. “It’s sort of like having IRS agents investigate espionage in NASA. They do not have legal authority to do so.” In February, Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem deputized 600 of the more than 2,500 DSS officers “to help with arresting and deporting illegal immigrants,” according to a DHS press release. The State Department and ICE did not respond to a request for comment. But on June 26, an email was sent to the entire DSS staff with the subject “Title 8 Reporting Instructions.” Title 8 refers to the section of the US Code that deals with “aliens and nationality.” In the email, agents are instructed to report the different types of immigration related activities in a tool called MyDSIR, including “detentions,” (which includes when a DSS agent is “part of an arrest team, perimeter security team, transport team, surveillance team, etc.”). For Title 8 cases that originate within or have the potential to be charged by DSS, offices are instructed to use a different system, the Investigative Management System (IMS). DSS agents are also instructed to log any hours they spend on immigration-related enforcement activities through another tool, DSReady.