U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Update on Planning for Unit of Native American Law Enforcement Personnel

What GAO Found

Within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Shadow Wolves program operates on the Tohono O'odham Nation reservation in Sells, Arizona. In January 2024, GAO recommended that ICE define the mission and goals of the program, with input from the Tohono O'odham Nation. GAO also recommended that, after defining the mission and goals of the Shadow Wolves program, ICE should determine the staffing needs for the program on the Tohono O'odham Nation reservation, to include the skills and number of positions necessary. ICE concurred with the recommendations. In July 2024, however, ICE defined the program's mission, but without input from the Tribe. In addition, ICE's defined goals for the program do not align with the program's mission or describe the results it hopes to achieve. Further, though ICE has defined staffing goals for the program, ICE has not yet performed a workforce analysis to determine the program's staffing needs, including the number and type of personnel the unit needs to meet operational demands. GAO maintains that defining the mission and goals of the Shadow Wolves program, with input from the Tohono O'odham Nation, could better position the agency to ensure that Shadow Wolves operations are achieving desired outcomes, and that determining the program's staffing needs would better position ICE to develop recruitment plans.

In January 2024, GAO also recommended that ICE update its October 2022 Shadow Wolves recruitment strategy to include measurable goals, timelines, and milestones, and develop a succession plan to address upcoming retirements. ICE concurred with these recommendations and has taken steps to recruit Shadow Wolves, such as making four vacant, funded special agent positions available to hire them. After the unit's membership decreased from eight to six members due to retirements in spring 2024, ICE decided to post the new positions at the GS-9 grade level because, according to ICE officials, this approach would allow the agency to onboard and train recruits more quickly than entry-level hires. However, as of October 2024, ICE had not yet posted a hiring announcement or developed a succession plan. GAO maintains that ICE should (1) develop and document measurable goals, timelines, and milestones so officials can review progress of their recruitment efforts and make any needed adjustments and (2) develop a succession plan to better ensure that experienced Shadow Wolves will be available to train new recruits.

In January 2024, GAO also recommended that ICE develop criteria for evaluating possible additional Shadow Wolves locations. ICE concurred with this recommendation and has taken some steps to implement it. In July 2024, it broadly defined elements that would enable it to select new locations, including: the willingness of partnering Tribal Nations, the level of criminal activity, and the availability of funding. However, as of August 2024, ICE had not detailed how it will apply these broad criteria to selecting potential locations. According to ICE, the agency plans to update and finalize its evaluation criteria after it completes the hiring and onboarding process for new Shadow Wolves. ICE officials said they chose this approach because the program is focusing on staffing the Shadow Wolves unit in Sells and that without hiring new members soon, expansion and the program itself are in jeopardy. While the more immediate need is to address Shadow Wolves program staffing needs, we maintain that, moving forward, developing criteria for evaluating and selecting expansion locations could help ensure that ICE evaluates locations consistently while improving transparency of the process.

Why GAO Did This Study

About 62 miles of the U.S. southwest border is located on the Tohono O'odham Nation reservation, which may be vulnerable to illicit cross-border activity. The Shadow Wolves program began operations in 1974 to address the illegal smuggling of controlled substances from Mexico to this reservation in Arizona and into the interior of the U.S.

The Shadow Wolves Enhancement Act, which became law in April 2022, includes a provision for GAO to assess the effectiveness of ICE's strategy for the Shadow Wolves program not later than 1 year after receiving the strategy, and annually for the following 2 years. GAO issued its first report related to this provision in January 2024. This report assesses ICE's (1) efforts to define the program's mission and staffing needs, (2) strategies for recruiting and retaining Shadow Wolves, and (3) planning efforts to expand the program to other tribal lands. GAO analyzed program planning documents and visited the Tohono O'odham Nation reservation to interview ICE officials and Shadow Wolves members.