POLITICS

FBI will no longer investigate ICE confrontations, The New York Times reports

PUBLISHED SUN, JUL 19 20262:

KAMARON MCNAIR

KEY POINTS

• Department of Homeland Security agents have received notice that the FBI will no longer investigate assault claims against immigration agents, The New York Times reports.

• The Department of Justice and DHS have both denied the report.

• ICE agents shot and killed two people in July, including a Colombian man in Maine on Monday.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents recently have been told that the FBI will no longer investigate claims of assault against the federal officers, according to a report by The New York Times.

On Thursday, FBI managers received written notice of the change, sources told the Times, and some ICE agents throughout the country were informed by their FBI counterparts.

In incidents where ICE agents have been involved in fatal shootings, the FBI under the Trump administration has been tasked with determining whether the agents were assaulted before opening fire. But evidence revealed during those investigations could later be used in civil rights investigations or prosecutions against ICE agents.

The new guidance would likely mean Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of ICE, would investigate such assault claims by their own agents, according to the Times. Allowing DHS to handle those investigations could lead to less accountability for immigration agents, sources told the NYT.

Since DHS does not have the jurisdiction to investigate civil rights violations, the policy change could lessen the likelihood that ICE agents who shoot unarmed people would be investigated for breaking federal law.

The Department of Justice and the DHS have both denied that any change in oversight has taken place.

“The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security are partners in addressing crime and upholding the rule of law, while securing the safety and security of American communities,” the DHS and DOJ said in a joint statement provided to CNBC.

“The relationship between DHS and DOJ in investigating assault on federal officer cases has not changed, and FBI will continue to investigate in accordance with agency policy.”

The purported change in oversight comes just days after an ICE agent shot and killed a Colombian man, Joan Sebastian Guerrero, in Biddeford, Maine. He was at least the seventh person shot by ICE agents since January 2025, and the second person just this month after an agent shot and killed Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on July 7.

(https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/19/ice-assault-claims-fbi.html

Maher slams Democrats, says he’s open to voting for Vance in 2028

07/19/26 02:17 PM ET

Campaign

Comedian Bill Maher on Sunday slammed the Democratic Party and its socialist wing, adding that he would be open to voting for Vice President Vance if he runs for president in 2028.

Maher told ABC News’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week” that the Democratic Party is being “taken over.”

“Every day I hear about a new very radical guy. I feel very good about like 10 whenever years ago, I did lose fans — because I wasn’t gonna go along with some of this crazy stuff on the left too,” Maher said. “I didn’t change really on what I thought about the right. But I can’t sit and just not notice stuff, which people seem to want to do because it’s all about my team or your team. But yeah, there’s some crazy stuff.”

The “Real Time” host added that when Democrats are “cheering for the intifada, cut! I’m out,” referring to the Arabic word for “uprising” and commonly associated with Palestinian resistance against Israel’s government.

“They’re cowardly,” Maher said about the party.

The liberal HBO host later told Karl that his “vote is in play” when it comes to possibly voting for Vance, a conservative Republican, in 2028. He dismissed the changes and successes Democrats have had from democratic socialist candidates and echoed President Trump’s claims conflating these candidates with being communists.

“OK, I’ve read the quotes from the DSA platform from their own mouths,” Maher said, referring to the organization Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). “Don’t tell me I’m not seeing what I am seeing. And DSA, again, they say things like ‘takeover of key industries’ … That’s communism. You know, there is a definition.”

He again emphasized left-wing talking points inherited by Democratic lawmakers, such as “abolish the police,” and described them as “a level of nutty.”

Karl then asked if Maher sees himself voting for Vance.

“Yes, if this is the Democratic side, yes,” Maher replied.

Though a fixture among liberal political critics for decades, Maher has been openly critical of the left-wing lurch that some elements of the party have taken. He initially toned down his criticism of Trump following his return to the White House last year, particularly after dining with the president, an incident that itself was maligned by critics and other comedians.

Maher has maintained his criticism toward some of the president’s policies and actions, including his back-and-forth on the Iran war. A vocal critic of Islam and all organized religion, Maher said early in the war that he was “cautiously optimistic” but later said the administration missed its chance for regime change.

Vance appeared on Maher’s show last month. The host challenged the vice president on Trump’s unfounded and false claims of election fraud, telling Vance that “s— has to stop.” Vance agreed that candidates should concede elections but claimed there were “technology companies that were putting their thumb on the scale.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5976901-bill-maher-vance-2028-potential-vote/amp/