The FBI will no longer participate in investigations into cases involving alleged assaults on\u00a0immigration agents, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n
The federal law enforcement agency would instead be deferring such investigations to Homeland Security Investigations, the sources said. The FBI field offices were informed of the change on Thursday, according to the sources. \u00a0<\/p>\n
HSI is an arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, both of which are overseen by the Department of Homeland Security, meaning the immigration enforcement agency would effectively be investigating incidents involving its own agents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The change was first reported by\u00a0The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security denied that changes were in store in a social media post on Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n The shift would be coming after fatal shootings by federal immigration officers in Texas and Maine earlier this month.<\/p>\n On July 7, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer\u00a0shot and killed<\/a>\u00a0a Mexican national in Houston who had lived in the U.S. for decades. Days later, an ICE officer\u00a0shot and killed<\/a>\u00a0a Colombian man in Biddeford, Maine.<\/p>\n The FBI earlier this year surged resources in Minnesota<\/a> to investigate alleged assaults on immigration officers who were carrying out enforcement operations in Minneapolis. Some of those cases were later dismissed after prosecutors reviewed the evidence. The issue became a flash point after a fatal encounter between an ICE officer and Renee Good<\/a>. The Justice Department pressured the FBI and prosecutors to treat the investigation as an assault on a federal officer as opposed to a civil rights investigation into her killing, prompting several prosecutors and an FBI agent to resign.<\/p>\n When HSI was tasked with leading the federal investigation into the\u00a0fatal shooting of Alex Pretti<\/a>\u00a0in Minneapolis in January, with the help of the FBI,\u00a0the decision raised questions<\/a>\u00a0among current and former federal law enforcement officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n After concerns were raised, the FBI and the Civil Rights Division were ordered to take the lead on the probe. That investigation remains ongoing.<\/p>\n HSI is not typically tasked with investigating\u00a0officer-involved shootings<\/a>\u00a0and is not structured or equipped to handle core elements of such cases, including ballistics analysis, forensic processing, firearm examinations, video review and large-scale witness canvassing.<\/p>\n \n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n \n Go deeper with The Free Press\n <\/p>\n