DHS final rule granted USCIS arrest authority and deadly force, transforming civilian benefits agency into armed law enforcement arm

On September 4, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule transforming U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from a civilian adjudications agency into one with sweeping law enforcement authority. Under the rule, USCIS will employ 1811-classified special agents — the same federal law enforcement designation as FBI and DEA agents — authorized to carry firearms, use deadly force, make arrests, serve warrants, detain and remove individuals, and investigate both civil and criminal immigration violations. The rule takes effect 30 days from publication.

Congress created USCIS in 2002 under the Homeland Security Act as a benefits-processing successor to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, deliberately separating adjudications from enforcement. The statute gave USCIS no law enforcement mandate; enforcement functions were assigned to ICE and CBP as distinct agencies. For the first time in USCIS's history, the administration is deploying 1811-classified agents within an agency whose authorizing statute does not provide that authority. The American Immigration Council noted that USCIS agents would have authority over "individuals across the country" — not just at ports of entry — expanding the domestic arrest and surveillance capacity of the immigration enforcement apparatus far beyond what Congress authorized.

The administration did not seek new statutory authority from Congress before publishing the rule. Creating a new law enforcement component within an existing civilian agency — with appropriations, hiring authority, and armed-agent powers — is a function historically requiring congressional action. By proceeding via rulemaking alone, DHS claimed a power the Homeland Security Act does not grant, establishing armed enforcement capacity inside a civilian agency and adding a third major immigration enforcement arm alongside ICE and CBP without legislative approval.