New recruits can get up to $50,000 in bonuses and benefits such as student loan forgiveness.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has received more than 100,000 job applications from Americans, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Aug. 12.
“Our country is calling you to serve at ICE. In the wake of the Biden administration’s failed immigration policies, your country needs dedicated men and women of ICE to get the worst of the worst criminals out of our country,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
“This is a defining moment in our nation’s history. Your skills, your experience, and your courage have never been more essential. Together, we must defend the homeland.”
Applications began pouring in after the DHS launched the “Defend the Homeland” ICE recruitment drive on July 29.
The agency is offering recruits incentives such as signing bonuses of up to $50,000, overtime pay, student loan repayment and forgiveness options, and enhanced retirement benefits.
Currently, ICE employs at least 20,000 law enforcement and support personnel across more than 400 offices in the United States and globally.
The latest recruitment drive is backed by funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4 by President Donald Trump.
The act allocated $170 billion for border security and immigration enforcement over a five-year period. ICE was allocated $76.5 billion, which is almost 10 times the agency’s typical annual budget.
Out of the $76.5 billion, ICE will spend $45 billion to expand detention capacity, and nearly $30 billion will be allocated for hiring 10,000 more staff members, which is expected to ensure the deportation of 1 million people per year.
In its Aug. 12 statement, DHS said that Noem had waived age limits for new applicants to join the agency, allowing more people to “qualify to join ICE in its mission to arrest murderers, pedophiles, gang members, rapists, and other criminal illegal aliens from America’s streets.”
“All ICE law enforcement recruits are required to go through medical screening, drug screening, and complete a physical fitness test,” the statement reads.
Applicants were previously required to be between 21 and 37 or 40 years old, depending on the position.
Boosting ICE recruitment is one of the many policies adopted by the Trump administration as part of its efforts to counter the illegal immigration crisis facing the United States.
In a July 23 statement, the American Immigration Council announced the release of a report analyzing the immigration system during the administration’s first six months.
According to the group, the administration has effectively ended asylum at the southern border, has revoked legal statuses such as humanitarian parole and temporary protected status of more than 1 million illegals, has indefinitely suspended the Refugee Admissions Program, and is obstructing legal immigration pathways with fee hikes and processing freezes.
“This isn’t just a hardline immigration agenda,” said Nayna Gupta, policy director at the American Immigration Council and coauthor of the report.
“It’s a wholesale effort to use immigrants and the U.S. immigration system to attack core tenets of our democracy and exercise unchecked executive power to realign the American government around exclusion and fear.”
Under the Trump administration, there has been a massive drop in encounters with illegal immigrants.
DHS on Aug. 1 reported 24,630 nationwide encounters with illegal immigrants in July, a nearly 90 percent decrease from the monthly average under the Biden administration.
Detention Conditions
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) on July 30 released a report claiming that pregnant women and children were being abused in the U.S. immigration system.
“Since January 20, 2025, Senator Ossoff’s investigation has received or identified 510 credible reports of human rights abuse against individuals” held in law enforcement custody, the report said.
“Among these reports are 41 credible reports of physical and sexual abuse of individuals in U.S. immigration detention, 14 credible reports of mistreatment of pregnant women, and 18 credible reports of mistreatment of children,” it stated.
In an Aug. 7 statement, DHS dismissed the claims made in the report.
The agency said that pregnant women receive nutritional support, mental health services, regular prenatal visits, and accommodations in line with community standards of care.
All illegal immigrants entering ICE custody are provided comprehensive medical care, including mental, dental, and medical screening, as well as 24-hour emergency care, the agency said.
“For many of these children this is the best healthcare they have received in their entire lives,” it stated.
DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said that politicians were peddling false claims based on inaccurate reporting in a bid to score political points.
“Senator Ossoff’s false allegations of subprime conditions have been debunked time and time again by DHS,” she said in a statement.
“ICE detention facilities have higher standards than most U.S. prisons that detain American citizens.
“All detainees are provided with comprehensive medical care, proper meals, and are given the opportunity to call their family members and attorneys.”
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