No, ICE didn't buy guided missiles
How recent weapons purchases by Immigration and Customs Enforcement were covered in a well-read blog led to some misinformation
Yesterday morning, the widely-read news blog Popular Information wrote on Substack (emphasis added):
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has sharply increased its spending on weapons in 2025, according to an analysis of federal government contracting data by Popular Information. Records from the Federal Procurement Data System reveal that ICE has increased spending on “small arms, ordnance, and ordnance accessories manufacturing” by 700% compared to 2024 levels.
New spending in the small arms category from January 20, 2025, the day Trump was inaugurated, through October 18, totaled $71,515,762. Most of the spending was on guns and armor, but there have also been significant purchases of chemical weapons and “guided missile warheads and explosive components.”
That eye-popping last line was picked up by several outlets, including The New Republic, which moved up the guided missile part to their lede. Other outlets like Common Dreams, AlterNet and The San Antonio Current, ran with the Popular Information report, all further highlighting ICE’s recent purchase of guided missiles.
Reposts on Reddit, X and Instagram pulled in thousands of viewers, with many commenters understandably aghast at the prospect of a domestic police force with a history of heavy-handed tactics now able to deploy the destructive power of modern guided missiles on American streets.
The language “guided missile warheads and explosive components” comes from one of two classification code systems the federal government and other large organizations use to lump purchases into identifiable buckets. In this case that language is Product and Service Code 1336.
The other classification is the North American Industry Classification System, which is a six-digit coding system used by U.S., Canadian, and Mexican governments. Almost all contracts on federal databases will use both classifications.
Searching for that PSC in the Federal Procurement Data System or sam.gov along with “Immigration and Customs Enforcement” will yield exactly one contract (relevant parts of the contract are screenshotted):
Quantico Tactical Inc. is a supplier that mostly deals in apparel and small arms. The description points to this purchase actually being something like flashbang grenades, which are already widely used by domestic law enforcement.
Furthermore, the value of the contract would exclude the possibility of the purchase of a guided missile, most of which cost at least $100,000 per missile and usually much more.
The absolute cheapest weapon that could be reasonably called a guided missile in the U.S. arsenal this blog could find is the Advanced Precision Weapon Kill System, a shoulder-fired system for taking out small drones, which runs about $22,000.
The rest of the Popular Information report looks accurate. ICE is purchasing much more in small arms this year than it has in years past. Below is a button that links to a spreadsheet of all ICE contracts for products in the “small arms, ordnance, and ordnance accessories manufacturing” category (NAICS code 332994).
For now though, it appears the general U.S. public need not worry about guided missile attacks carried out by their own government.
Editor’s note 10/30/2025: Snopes and Wired both followed this reporting with their own articles on this subject, and Newsweek reported that DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin denied ICE is purchasing guided missiles.