Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to hire 5,000 new personnel by December, a significant expansion of the agency as the Trump administration presses ahead with President Donald Trump’s deportation agenda, two people familiar with the effort told MS NOW.
It remains unclear whether the administration expects all 5,000 hires to be fully trained and deployed by the end of December or whether some will still be moving through the hiring and vetting process, which can include background investigations, polygraphs and other screening.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, a driving force behind the administration’s immigration crackdown, is pushing ICE to meet the hiring target, according to the two sources.
Many of the new hires are expected to join ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, the division responsible for identifying, arresting, detaining and deporting immigrants. The hiring surge will also include support personnel, such as intelligence analysts, the people familiar with the effort said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ambitious timeline comes as the Trump administration seeks to rapidly expand the federal immigration enforcement workforce and increase the number of arrests and deportations carried out across the country.
ICE has already undertaken a sweeping recruitment campaign, offering financial incentives and seeking thousands of additional officers and other personnel. Congress provided the Department of Homeland Security with tens of billions of dollars in additional immigration enforcement funding through Trump’s sweeping tax and spending law, giving the administration resources to substantially expand ICE’s staff, detention capacity and operations.
The rapid buildup has also raised questions about whether the agency can recruit, vet and train large numbers of new employees without compromising its standards. An Associated Press investigation found that some recruits began working before completing full background investigations and that some hires had financial, legal or employment problems in their backgrounds. A whistleblower who worked in ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility later alleged the agency had lowered vetting standards during the hiring surge.
DHS has maintained that it follows required vetting procedures.
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