Fake ICE agents terrorize immigrants amid Trump’s crackdown

A Christ figurine watches over the door as the man secures the bolts and bars that protect his home. If the locks fail, a host of archangels, holy cards and crosses stand guard on nearby walls and tables.

“Most people don’t live like I do,” said the Mexican immigrant, who didn’t want to give his name out of fear for his safety. “I know they’re just pieces of wood or little locks, but they help me because I feel a little safer.”

He said nights have haunted him since Jan. 20, 2025. That was when a group of assailants entered a house he shared with other immigrants in Greensboro, North Carolina, and a hooded man shouting “ICE! ICE!” kicked down his bedroom door.

“I raised my hands, and he asked, ‘Where’s the money?’ That’s when I realized it was a robbery. It wasn’t ICE. It wasn’t the police,” the Mexican immigrant said.

The assault, which local police have not yet solved and for which no arrests have been made, happened the same day Donald Trump returned to the White House for his second term, vowing to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in the nation’s history. Since then, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has swelled by thousands of agents and has carried out waves of arrests and deportations in cities across the country.

Although neither the federal government nor local authorities publish specific records of people impersonating immigration agents, an analysis by Noticias Telemundo, based on court records, police reports and news articles, suggests that the number of such crimes has increased over the past year.

Our investigation documented at least 31 cases in 2025 alone — a sharp increase compared to an average of 5.3 incidents per year in the previous decade. Overall, we identified 84 instances of impostors posing as immigration agents between 2014 and 2025.

In the case of the Mexican immigrant, he said at least four assailants robbed him and the other immigrants in the house at gunpoint. He was struck in the head with a weapon; another immigrant who lived in the house said his forehead was split open with the butt of a gun; it required more than 10 stitches and staples. The assailants also pointed a gun at a baby as they demanded money from the infant’s parents, the immigrants said.

The immigrants said they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between assailants posing as ICE agents and real agents, “because now they all come hooded,” one of them said.

As of February, Noticias Telemundo had documented at least six cases of impostors posing as ICE agents to rob or harass immigrants. In mid-January, a man broke into a house in Pittsburgh claiming to be an ICE agent and threatening a teen with a knife. In February, police in San Diego said a man allegedly impersonated an officer and wrapped his arms around the neck of a restaurant manager, claiming the manager was in the country illegally and he was going to arrest him.

Of the 31 impersonation cases documented in 2025, 84% involved individuals who claimed to be ICE agents. Others identified themselves as officers from Border Patrol or the Department of Homeland Security.

Among the incidents reviewed, the level of violence also appears to have increased. Between 2014 and 2024, an average of 23% of documented cases each year involved violent acts; in 2025, that figure rose to 38%.

The recorded incidents include intimidation, robbery and sexual assault, as well as so-called “immigration operations” carried out by armed vigilantes against what they describe as an “invasion” of foreigners in the U.S.

According to an internal security bulletin obtained by Noticias Telemundo, the FBI warned in October that criminals were “taking advantage of ICE’s higher public profile and media coverage to target vulnerable communities and commit criminal activity.”

That bulletin flagged at least five incidents involving fake ICE agents between January and August 2025 — including an unreported case in New York where three men in black clothing robbed a restaurant ATM and tied up two people, putting a trash bag over one and kicking the other.

Neither DHS nor ICE responded to Noticias Telemundo’s request for official statistics about cases of fake ICE agents. They also did not comment on the trends revealed by this investigation.

The FBI warned in the bulletin that these incidents make it “difficult for the community to distinguish” between legitimate officers conducting lawful law enforcement actions and impostors engaging in criminal activity, which damages trust between the local community and law enforcement officers.

Impersonating a federal agent is a serious offense punishable by up to three years in prison. While this type of crime is not new, the rise in reports of fake ICE agents carrying out violent attacks is a growing concern, according to data reviewed by Noticias Telemundo and experts consulted for this investigation.

In the past, impostors typically stole from immigrants. However, John Tobon, a retired deputy director of Homeland Security Investigations (ICE’s investigative arm), told Noticias Telemundo that these crimes have recently become “much more aggressive and violent.”

Experts, activists and officials interviewed by Noticias Telemundo warned that immigrants are easy prey for these fake agents: They often comply without resistance, may not speak or understand English well, and often fail to report crimes or withdraw from investigations and court proceedings out of fear of deportation.

Noticias Telemundo reached out to at least a dozen immigrants who were victims or witnesses in documented 2025 cases. Seven did not respond or declined to talk, including two women allegedly raped by fake agents. Some cited fear of their attackers or of being identified by immigration authorities. “You never know what might happen to me or my family,” a Venezuelan who said he witnessed an impostor staging a fake “immigration operation” said.

Rep. Laura Friedman, D-Calif., said, “We truly don’t know how often these crimes may be happening.”

“If someone is robbed or assaulted and is undocumented, in this environment, they’re probably not going to come forward and complain to the police,” she said. “It’s very possible that this is happening a lot more than we even know.”

Friedman and 30 other members of the House Democratic Women’s Caucus sent a letter in August to then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Trump administration officials demanding ICE agents identify themselves “visibly and clearly,” warning that impersonators leverage women’s uncertainty and fear of the consequences of immigration actions to rape, harass and abuse them.

California passed a law banning agents from wearing masks or refusing to identify themselves, but a judge blocked its enforcement following a federal lawsuit. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the City Council passed ICE-related legislation that prohibits ICE agents from wearing masks or using unmarked vehicles and requires them to display badges.

“We have laws here in Philadelphia that if the gas company, the water department or any city service comes to your house, they have to identify themselves,” Kendra Brooks, the minority leader of the Philadelphia City Council, told Noticias Telemundo. “What would make federal agents any different?”

According to court documents, on June 8, 2025, an armed man claiming to be an ICE agent burst into a business in northeast Philadelphia, saying he was conducting an “operation” to detain undocumented immigrants. He zip-tied the cashier — a 50-year-old Dominican immigrant — stole $1,000 and fled, a local news outlet reported. He wore a black shirt, green pants, a vest marked “Security Enforcement Agent,” gloves, a cap and sunglasses, another news report said.

The alleged robber, who was arrested shortly afterward, was one of only two suspects nationwide to be charged with federal counts of impersonating an ICE agent in 2025, according to a review of cases by Noticias Telemundo.

“It’s extremely important that people who commit serious crimes while pretending to be ICE agents have consequences,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner told Noticias Telemundo. “So, they absolutely should be locked up.” He said that he had never come across such cases in the city prior to 2025.

In 2025, local authorities reported violent robberies carried out by fake agents across Texas, North Carolina and Delaware. Court records describe a Dominican woman dragged to a basement, savagely beaten and raped after leaving a medical appointment in New York. According to court records, a Venezuelan immigrant was raped at her workplace in North Carolina by a man claiming to be an agent. In Florida, a police report stated that an armed man had cycled through an apartment complex searching for “illegal Mexicans.” In California, a driver in a car with police lights and sirens hit someone while shouting “ICE raid!” police said in a statement.

“We are in uncharted territory,” said Naureen Shah, the director of government affairs, equality division, at the American Civil Liberties Union. “We’ve never in this country experienced masked agents on this kind of scale. And so, we’ve never experienced this problem before of people being able to credibly impersonate federal law enforcement agents.”

Convinced he was about to die, a young Mexican immigrant said goodbye to his wife. He couldn’t breathe, his chest ached, and he felt a chill race from his feet to his head. “It was something I’d never felt before,” he recalled, asking his name be withheld due to a fear of reprisals. His doctor later diagnosed it as his first panic attack.

He said he’s felt a sense of dread in places he once enjoyed, such as shopping or outings with his family. It all started in late January 2025, when a fake ICE agent threatened to deport him and his crew after they had finished landscaping work on Sullivan’s Island, an affluent enclave near Charleston, South Carolina.

“You’re going back to Mexico,” a man told the immigrants in a video recorded from inside their truck. He insulted them for their appearance and for not speaking English, took their keys and snatched the immigrant’s phone when he called his boss. The manager later told the police that the fake agent had claimed to be from ICE and had warned him that all his employees were going to go to “f-----g jail.”

“That fear has stayed with me ever since,” the immigrant wrote in a letter read at a hearing in October 2025. Police arrested Sean-Michael Emmrich Johnson, who later pleaded guilty to impersonating an officer and a breach of peace. He apologized for his actions and was sentenced to three years’ probation and 200 hours of community service.

Noticias Telemundo tried to reach him through his attorney, who declined an interview.

The young Mexican immigrant was the only one who followed through with a complaint. He said his co-workers were terrified of retaliation or deportation, but he was convinced that “all people, regardless of their race, deserve respect.”

The young immigrant has since changed jobs and sought help from immigration attorney Nina Cano. She explained that ICE’s agreements with local police departments across the country make it harder to pursue these crimes. “Immigrants are afraid that the very officer they go to [to report a crime] will be the one who calls immigration,” she said.

Cano said the first step is for immigrant victims of a crime to speak with an attorney who can explain the risks and potential benefits of coming forward. “Sometimes it can lead to immigration benefits. In other cases, it may not help or offer protection. Ultimately, it’s each victim’s decision,” she said.

“They have to consider that the risk isn’t only immigration-related, but also that this [crime] could happen to them again,” she added. “It’s a very sad and difficult situation for our community.”

“Victims don’t want to call the police because they’re afraid,” said Krasner, the Philadelphia DA, adding that witnesses are also reluctant to appear in court for fear of arrest or deportation.

“This makes the work of public safety much more difficult,” he said.

In mid-September, a Honduran immigrant was detained by police in Iowa while trying to retrieve his vehicle after surviving a shooting during an attempted robbery. Local authorities arrested him on an old traffic ticket warrant and turned him over to ICE.

“We really need undocumented people in the country to feel safe going to police and seeking protection,” said the ACLU’s Shah, who, like other experts interviewed for this story, stressed that public safety for everyone depends on it.

ICE agents almost never make arrests alone. “You’ll see them working in groups,” said William León, a police liaison to the Hispanic community in North Charleston, South Carolina. Language and behavior can also be red flags. Obscene language or erratic conduct, for example, often signal an impostor, he added.

ICE officers don’t wear a specific uniform, according to Tobon, the former special agent who worked for 31 years in ICE’s investigative division. “There’s tactical gear for certain operations, but it’s not a strict uniform like a state trooper or city cop,” he said.

He said that impostors’ outfits often align more closely with the public’s mental image of what federal agents wear due to the constant stream of nationwide raid footage. “It’s easy to fool people into thinking they’re official,” he said.

For Friedman, the California congresswoman, the lack of a distinctive official ICE uniform complicates efforts for new legislation: “So even if you had some kind of a rule that said that people couldn’t dress up as ICE, I’m not sure how enforceable that is, because I’m not sure that there’s anything particularly distinguishable about what they’re wearing.”

During his three decades at HSI, Tobon encountered fake officers from various agencies several times. Back then, he said, they engaged in scams rather than violent crimes. “It was a way to scare someone and then disappear. They left behind people who had lost money but hadn’t been physically harmed,” he said.

Of the nearly 90 incidents Noticias Telemundo documented over the past decade, many were scams in which impostors posed as agents peddling fake immigration services for thousands of dollars. In 2017, three California men were arrested and later convicted in a nearly $6 million fraud scheme targeting dozens of migrants, aided by a former DHS supervisor who fed them confidential police data and was later convicted of lying to the FBI.

“We’re hearing cases of victims subjected to violence or sexual assault by people impersonating ICE or immigration,” said Morgan Weibel, director of legal services at the nonprofit Tahirih Justice Center, which helps immigrant women who are survivors of violence.

Noticias Telemundo contacted two women who, according to court documents, were raped by fake ICE agents in separate incidents in New York and North Carolina in 2025. Both declined to be interviewed but said they did not have lawyers. The cases remain open.

Weibel said that immigrant women, who are often survivors of violence in their home countries, might drop charges out of fear of the authorities or their attackers. She added that court processes are also often long, grueling and revictimizing. “If fear prevents people from seeing the judicial process through, we’re all in greater danger because criminals walk free,” she said.

The ACLU’s Shah said that while some immigrants know their rights when facing a federal agent, “what do you do if you are confronted by an individual who is refusing to provide you information? That’s a really hard question.”

In February 2025, police responded after a man allegedly identified himself as an agent and demanded to inspect an apartment that he claimed was occupied by Mexican immigrants.

According to the police report, he told deputies he was a Homeland Security officer and was carrying a firearm and a pocketknife. Confronted by police, he cited a supposed invasion of criminal immigrants to the U.S. According to body camera video obtained by Noticias Telemundo, he told the agents that he wanted to become a police officer, but the process would take a couple of months, and he was “ready to help fight crime.” He also told police he was going to get a job with Homeland Security.

Police charged the man, Steven Donovan, with impersonating an officer and burglary of a structure. He chose not to contest the charges, which paved the way for a conviction without a formal guilty plea. He was sentenced to 36 months of probation. Attempts to speak to Donovan or his attorney were unsuccessful.

A few months later, also in Florida, several immigrants heading to work called 911 and said they were being chased by a man who said he was with ICE, according to a police report and officers’ body camera video.

Questioned by police, the man, Jose Juan Lopez, allegedly claimed the immigrants looked like people who didn’t have “papers.” He has been charged with impersonating a federal law enforcement agent.

Some have posed as ICE agents for other reasons, such as dodging a massage fee in Texas, local media reported, or to abduct an ex-partner’s wife in Florida, according to a police report.

ICE argues that its agents wear masks or cover their faces to prevent doxxing, which is using their images (via AI tools, for example) to expose personal information that endangers them and their families. The agency insists that its officers “carry badges and credentials and will identify themselves when required for public safety or legal necessity.”

DHS stated in January that death threats against agents have increased by over 8,000%.

DHS pointed to a February 2025 doxxing case where a man was arrested for allegedly posting an ICE attorney’s personal information online and inciting harassment — although it specified that his campaign against the employee began in 2024.

Friedman said other elected officials such as judges get threats as well and that there are “laws on the books” to hold people accountable.

For Tobon, the retired HSI deputy director, “no law enforcement agent should cover their face” or refuse to identify themselves when asked. “If that opens the door for people to act and retaliate against agents, that’s something we already know. It’s a risk we accept when we take the job.”

Shah noted that in American history, masked figures carry a “terrible” legacy tied to dark, violent episodes, such as the crimes committed by the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan. Masks, she said, are meant to “terrorize” people, and she considers them un-American.

For the two Mexican immigrants who were attacked and robbed in North Carolina, nights have become a living hell.

“I really don’t sleep, thinking they might come back,” one said of the assailants, who are still at large over a year after the North Carolina robbery. Speaking of the man who split his head open, he said: “What if he had killed me?”

The other immigrant rarely ventures out except for work or groceries, trusting security cameras to guard the home where he’s barricaded himself for over a year amid locks and religious icons.

“I’m grateful to God for still being here,” he said. “No matter how much or how little money that person took from me, it wouldn’t give me my life back.”

Now he hopes for “a small victory” — the arrest of the perpetrators, “knowing that those people are not out there so they can’t do the same thing they did to me.”

In South Carolina, the sentencing of the fake agent who harassed the young Mexican immigrant offered relief.

“You feel happy that justice has been served,” he said. The impostor’s apology didn’t heal his trauma, he said, but the sentence reminded him that “here, no one can treat you badly because the law really supports you. Whether you have papers or not, it protects you.”

An earlier version of this story was first published in Noticias Telemundo.