In February 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) amended its use of force policy to align with the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) policy. For example, DHS’s policy introduced restrictions on chokeholds and carotid restraints. DHS officials said U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Federal Protective Service (FPS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the U.S. Secret Service (Secret Service) are required to update their use of force policies as needed to be consistent with DHS’s policy.
For example, DHS’s amended definition of a reportable use of force includes any use of a vehicle that delivers a kinetic impact to a subject (for example, when a vehicle hits a person), whereas the superseded policy did not require agencies to report the use of offensive driving techniques as a use of force unless serious bodily injury or death occurred.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) review of the four DHS components has found that DHS law enforcement officers generally receive basic use of force training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers. GAO said officers also receive recurring agency training that covers use of force, firearms, and less lethal devices. DHS agencies use electronic systems to track officers’ training.
In May 2022, DHS began collecting use of force data from its law enforcement agencies in an effort to better understand DHS’s use of force activities. In February 2023, DHS formalized its data collection efforts in its amended use of force policy by requiring agencies to submit use of force data to the department on a quarterly basis. GAO found that the data submitted undercounts the frequency that officers used force against subjects. For example, agencies sometimes submitted data to DHS that counted multiple reportable uses of force as a single “incident.” In one encounter with migrants at the U.S. border, four officers reported using force on a group of 62 subjects. CBP recorded these uses of force as one incident.
GAO said providing guidance on how agencies should submit data to DHS for the range of scenarios when force was used multiple times would enhance DHS’s ability to oversee use of force activities across its agencies. DHS officials stated that analyzing the use of force data would help guide future policy decisions, but GAO noted that DHS has not yet developed a plan to analyze the data.
The four DHS components have review boards to analyze uses of force from the perspective of training, tactics, policy, and equipment; identify trends and lessons learned; and propose any necessary improvements to policies and procedures. Boards that were in operation in fiscal years 2021 and 2022 found that most use of force incidents they reviewed aligned with agency policy. GAO found that agencies have applied lessons learned from reviews in various ways, such as revising policy and training. For example, CBP’s national board made nine recommendations to CBP as a result of its 12 determinations regarding use of force incidents. In one instance, the national board recommended that CBP review and amend training materials on vehicle interdictions and that CBP identify ways to reduce delays in reviews. According to CBP documentation, one of these recommendations has been implemented and closed, and CBP is in the process of implementing the remaining eight.
In an earlier GAO report, from December 2021, the government watchdog found that federal agencies—including those within DHS and DOJ—have mission-specific use of force policies and training, but that DHS had not developed an oversight body to monitor use of force data, as required by its policy. At the time, GAO made five recommendations to DHS or its component agencies, including that the Secretary of Homeland Security oversee the quality, consistency, and completeness of use of force reporting across DHS and develop standards on the types of less-lethal force that should be reported and what information should be reported about each use of force.
As of February 2023, DHS had addressed the recommendation to develop standards for its agencies about what types of use of force should be reported but had not fully addressed the others. For example, it established a working group to oversee data collection, but that group had not yet developed monitoring mechanisms to ensure that reporting information is consistent and complete. GAO also recommended in December 2021 that ICE and Secret Service modify their policies to ensure officials document the determinations of whether officers’ uses of force were within policy. As of February 2023, Secret Service had addressed GAO’s recommendation by issuing a new policy to document determinations, but ICE had not yet done so.
As a result of its latest review, GAO is making two recommendations to DHS. First, to provide guidance on how its component agencies submit data to DHS for the range of scenarios when force was used multiple times, and second, to develop and implement a plan with time frames for analyzing the use of force data its agencies submit. DHS agreed with GAO’s recommendations and stated that it plans to complete work to meet them by July 30, 2025.
