ICE actions in U.S. prompt questions about role in Canada with officers stationed at 5 embassies, consulates
Posted Feb 5, 2026 12:19 pm.
Public discourse on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has increased in recent weeks following the fatal shootings of two citizens in Minnesota during an immigration crackdown pushed by the Trump administration.
Canadians have stood beside their American counterparts in calling for justice for Renee Good and Alex Pretti and the overall reform of ICE. Now, conversations have shifted, after many realized ICE is closer to home than they knew.
The official U.S. ICE website lists international offices run out of U.S. embassies or consulates in five Canadian cities: Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver.
This isn’t anything new, but has raised some alarm given the current discourse on the subject.
Mount Royal University criminologist Doug King says the presence of ICE in Canada isn’t anything to worry about.
“Their work and what they are charged with doing, and their authority, is much, much different than what is happening in Minneapolis and that,” he explained.
In a post to social media, the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa says Homeland Security Investigations (HCI) operates in close partnership with Canadian law enforcement to combat transnational crime and protect communities on both sides of the border.
In a follow-up statement to CityNews Calgary, ICE says the HSI “has a longstanding and productive relationship with Canada, one of America’s most essential partners.”
“These skilled and highly trained special agents focus on a wide variety of serious crimes, like drug trafficking, child exploitation, weapons smuggling, human smuggling, financial fraud, and more,” a representative added. “They also help track and detain known and potential terrorists before they can carry out attacks against the United States and her allies.”
Agents in Canada don’t carry firearms, in contrast to U.S. officers. Furthermore, HSI special agents don’t conduct operational activities in Canada, like making arrests or executing search warrants, according to the agency.
King confirms this.
“They’ve been in Calgary for decades, they’re not new here,” he said. “Their authority in Canada is exclusively to assist Canadian authorities in investigating transnational crime.”
“Our collaboration benefits communities in both countries,” ICE says.
When it comes to what happens next, King says a rash decision isn’t wise, as the presence of agents is beneficial to Canadians and aids in an overall sense of public safety, whether we know it or not.
“I don’t think we should be making a decision that will end up putting Canadians’ public safety at risk; that’s where I think we need to draw the line,” he said.
Edmonton-based MP Heather McPherson disagrees, issuing an open letter last week calling for the end of ICE deployments across the country.
“ICE and Border Patrol have committed widespread abuse and violence, including murders of American citizens,” she wrote. “Their presence in cities across the United States is causing fear and outrage, and their inhumane actions are tearing families apart.
“Canada and Canadians must not engage with or support fascist violence that destroys communities and threatens the safety of our American neighbours and ourselves.”
Alongside calling for the end of the agency’s presence at U.S. embassies in this country, McPherson also called for an end to public funding for Ottawa tech company JSI, stopping the sale of Roshel armoured vehicles made in Brampton to ICE, and ending the federal security contract with GardaWorld. She claims all of these companies are complicit in the American government’s actions.
National security expert Patrick Lennox told The Big Story podcast that growing political instability in the United States could have real consequences for Canada.
“It’s a force in and of itself in American politics right now, which we should be very wary of at the moment in Canada,” he said.
-With files from Logan Stein
