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The Trump administration has disbanded its federal cultural property investigations team and reassigned the agents to immigration enforcement, delivering a blow to one of the world’s leaders in heritage protection and calling into question the future of America’s role in repatriating looted relics, according to multiple people familiar with the changes.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security established the Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities program in 2017 to “conduct training on the preservation, protection and investigation of cultural heritage and property; to coordinate and support investigations involving the illicit trafficking of cultural property around the world; and to facilitate the repatriation of illicit cultural items seized as a result of (federal) investigations to the objects and artifacts’ lawful and rightful owners.”
Looted: Stolen relics, laundered art and a Colorado scholar’s role in the illicit antiquities trade
Homeland Security Investigations, the department’s investigative arm, once had as many as eight agents in its New York office investigating cultural property cases. A select number of additional agents around the country also worked these cases, including a nationwide investigation into looted Thai objects.
The Denver Art Museum has previously acknowledged that two relics from Thailand in its collection are part of that federal investigation.
Since 2007, HSI says it has repatriated over 20,000 items to more than 40 countries.
But the Trump administration, as part of its unprecedented mass-deportation agenda, earlier this year dissolved the cultural property program and moved the agents to immigration enforcement, multiple people with knowledge of the change told The Denver Post.
Homeland Security officials did not respond to requests for comment.
A few months after Trump took office, a Homeland Security staffer with knowledge of the antiquities field told The Post that they received an email from their bosses. The message, according to their recollection: “The way of the world is immigration. Bring your cases to a reasonable conclusion and understand that the priority is immigration operations.”
This individual, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said they were given no time frame for the new assignment. Leadership, though, was clear that there would be no new cultural property cases.
Instead of conducting these investigations, this individual said they have been driving detainees between detention facilities and the airport for their deportation.
“I just spent almost a month cuffing guys up, throwing them in a van from one jail to another,” this person said, adding that the work doesn’t take advantage of their specialized training.
It’s frustrating, the individual said, because cultural property cases don’t require a lot of agents or resources. They don’t need all types of fancy electronic equipment.
“The juice from the squeeze on these cases is a lot more than people wanna give it credit,” this person said.
Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post
The Bunker Gallery section of the Denver Art Museum’s Southeast Asian art galleries at the Martin Building is pictured on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. Emma C. Bunker’s name was removed from the gallery in the wake of an investigation by The Denver Post. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Thai objects in Denver under investigation
For years, HSI has been investigating two Thai relics in the Denver Art Museum’s collection after officials in Thailand raised issues with their provenance, or ownership history.
The pieces — part of the so-called “Prakhon Chai hoard” — were looted in the 1960s from a secret vault at a temple near the Cambodian border, The Post found in a three-part investigation in 2022. Villagers told the newspaper that they recall dredging the vault for these prized objects and selling them to a British collector named Douglas Latchford.
A federal grand jury decades later indicted Latchford for conspiring to sell plundered Southeast Asian antiquities around the world. He died before he could stand trial.
Latchford funneled some of his stolen antiquities through the Denver Art Museum due to his close personal relationship with one of the museum’s trustees and volunteers, Emma C. Bunker, The Post found.
The museum told The Post last week it hasn’t received any communication from the federal government since December, before Trump took office.
High-profile cases in New York and Denver are proceeding despite the reallocation of resources, one agent said.
With the federal government mostly out of the game, cultural heritage investigations will be largely left to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York City, which has an Antiquities Trafficking Unit.
But the DA’s office relies heavily on its partnership with HSI, which has federal jurisdiction and can serve warrants and issue summonses across the country. The Manhattan DA’s office only has authority over New York.
“The future for the DA’s office and the (antiquities trafficking) unit is in jeopardy,” said an individual familiar with the Manhattan unit’s dealings, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. “It’s unclear who’s going to be swearing out warrants going forward.”
A spokesperson for the Manhattan DA declined to comment for this story.
‘Doing the right thing still has power’
These changes in enforcement priorities mean countries seeking the repatriation of their cultural items have fewer partners in the U.S. who can help them deal with museums and private collectors.
“A few years ago, the United States led the world in restoring stolen history — and it mattered,” said Bradley Gordon, an American attorney who for years has represented the Cambodian government in its quest to reclaim its pillaged history from art museums, including Denver’s.
It’s a shame, he said, that federal agencies have stepped back, even as the Manhattan DA continues its work.
“This work isn’t just about art; it’s about security, diplomacy and restoring dignity,” Gordon said. “These looted objects were never meant to be hidden in mansions or displayed in museum glass cases far from their origins. When they are returned, entire communities celebrate with sincere happiness. It’s a reminder that doing the right thing still has power in the world.”
Representatives from Thailand’s government, meanwhile, said they haven’t gotten an update on the Prakhon Chai investigation since Trump returned to office this year.
Cultural heritage experts say these investigations can serve as an important diplomatic tool and use of soft power — a way for the U.S. to strengthen connections to allies or thaw fraught relations with longtime adversaries.
In 2013, for example, President Barack Obama’s administration returned a ceremonial drinking vessel from the seventh century B.C. to Iran. For years, American officials said they couldn’t return the million-dollar relic until relations between the two countries normalized. The move — which NBC News titled “archaeo-diplomacy” — represented a small but important gesture as the U.S. sought a nuclear deal with the Middle Eastern power.
“The return of the artifact reflects the strong respect the United States has for cultural heritage property — in this case, cultural heritage property that was likely looted from Iran and is important to the patrimony of the Iranian people,” the U.S. State Department said at the time. “It also reflects the strong respect the United States has for the Iranian people.”
A lack of law enforcement activity in this space could also mean that museums and private collectors will be less inclined to return stolen pieces, said Erin Thompson, an art crime professor at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Museums, instead, will maintain the status quo.
“Without the power of subpoenas, knowing what records people have, most of these returns are impossible,” she said. “Without the official stick to back up the carrot of negotiations, it wouldn’t happen. Government presence in these negotiations is absolutely crucial.”
Others wonder what the Trump administration’s realignment would mean for the illicit antiquities market.
Mongolia has spent years fighting for the return of dinosaur fossils from around the globe. HSI has worked on numerous investigations on this front, repatriating a host of looted items that are considered some of the best relics of life on Earth from millions of years ago.
Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, the country’s former minister of culture, tourism and sports, said she always held up the United States as an example of what can be done to crack down on the black market for cultural goods. Before collaborating with the U.S., Mongolia was considered “the weakest country” for losing its own heritage to illegal sellers, she said.
“If ICE is too focused on immigration and less on cultural heritage, it would, of course, be a sad thing,” she said in an interview, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees HSI. “By discouraging the black market of dinosaur fossils, the international market was shattered. If ICE weakens, the black market might surge back. The American (antiquities) market and American collaboration is essential for stopping the black market of illegal cultural property sales.”
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Sam Tabachnik
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