ICE plans AI assistant to have role in use case development, document shows

While the system’s deployment timeline is unclear, the Department of Homeland Security unit described the platform as providing a secure access point to large language models.

By Lindsey Wilkinson

September 14, 2026

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026. The Ventura County Government Center has been the site of tense standoffs and confrontations in recent weeks between ICE agents, local community observers, and protesters. (Photo by Blake Fagan / AFP via Getty Images)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been working this year to develop a new AI capability that it says will provide a “secure platform” for developing, testing and deploying new use cases, the agency revealed in response to a public records request.

The platform will give developers access to containerized environments and the tools necessary for experiments with retrieval-augmented generation, per the document, obtained by FedScoop via a Freedom of Information Act request.

“The STELLA platform will provide standardized toolsets, authentication/authorization, security/code scanning, AI guardrails, logging/analysis, and LLM access through the secure, FedRAMP ICE Cloud environment,” the agency said in its response Sunday.

ICE said STELLA, which stands for Secure Technology Environment for Large Language Agents, had an anticipated initial release this summer, though questions remain about the actual deployment timeline.

FedScoop first reported on the tool in January, prior to its appearance in the Department of Homeland Security’s AI use case inventory later that month. STELLA seemed to already be part of ongoing efforts to automate certain business functions at that time, per comments made by ICE CIO Dustin Goetz during an event.

When DHS updated the inventory in July, the use case entry was still designated as in a pre-deployment stage. ICE did not respond to a request for clarification.

In the inventory, STELLA is referred to as the ICE Enterprise AI Assistant, per information obtained through the FOIA request.

“Once deployed, this use case may be updated or additional use cases will be added as development teams begin to use the platform for AI development,” the agency said.

ICE did not provide information regarding the system’s accuracy and hallucination rates, which third-party AI companies were part of the development process, or what types of ICE data were used to train or fine-tune the tool.

“The information requested is still being written, and the architecture and models to be used are still being finalized,” ICE said in response to FedScoop’s request.

STELLA is one of the more than 40 AI use cases that ICE is currently developing or using within its operations. Others include mobile device forensics for investigations, open-source intelligence for lead identification and tip processing.

Some use cases have been more successful than others. ICE has retired several use cases recently, including an AI-assisted resume screening tool and a system that evaluated whether noncitizens could remain in their communities while their immigration cases were processed.