Nearly half of FBI agents in major offices reassigned to immigration enforcement

Data shows stunning shift in law enforcement priorities that has raised public safety concerns

Nearly half of the FBI agents working in the US's major field offices have been reassigned to aid immigration enforcement, according to newly released data, a stunning shift in law enforcement priorities that has raised public safety concerns.

Personnel data obtained by Mark Warner, a Democratic senator, and shared with the Guardian, suggests the Trump administration has moved 45% of FBI agents in the country's 25 largest field offices to support the Department of Homeland Security's immigration crackdown. Across all of the FBI's offices, 23% of the roughly 13,000 total agents at the bureau are now working on immigration, according to Warner, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee.