(The Center Square) – A record 78,000 people have applied to join U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to support Trump administration deportation efforts, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said.
“We have almost 78,000 applicants since we opened up,” Lyons told Fox News, referring to a new recruitment initiative that launched last week.
“We’re going through and we’re finding those people that really want to serve the country and really be in law enforcement. I think it’s a great way to recruit. Now we’re taking back our rehired annuitants, people that left the job early because they weren’t allowed to do the law enforcement mission,” he said.
The record number reflects applicants’ belief that the Trump administration has created “a viable law enforcement partner in the community, actually out there making a difference,” he said. “We’re really ecstatic about seeing the increase in new recruits that are applying.”
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched a recruitment campaign to recruit Americans to join DHS, ICE, CBP and Border Patrol to facilitate Trump administration border security efforts, The Center Square reported.
Last month, the Department of Defense implemented a program to enable outgoing service personnel to transition to federal border security roles, The Center Square reported.
Lyons says ICE is recruiting retiring or separating U.S. military service members and local law enforcement officers, “some of the best of the best.”
DHS rolled out “patriotic recruitment posters and benefits to attract the next generation of law enforcement professionals to find, arrest, and remove criminal illegal aliens,” it says. Recruitment materials are being distributed throughout cities nationwide, as well as on college campuses, at job fairs and through law enforcement networks.
ICE is also offering a range of incentives as part of the major recruitment effort. They include a maximum $50,000 signing bonus, student loan repayment and forgiveness options, a 25% Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP) for HSI Special Agents, Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUI) for Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) Deportation Officers, and enhanced retirement benefits.
ICE encourages Americans “with a commitment to public safety, national service, and upholding the rule of law” to apply to work for ICE at www.ice.gov/careers.
CBP is offering opportunities for former Border Patrol agents who retired between July 2020 and July 2024 to rejoin as a reemployed annuitant. Applications are currently being accepted for Border Patrol Agent (Reemployed Annuitant) GS-1896-13, and Border Patrol Agent (Reemployed Annuitant) GS-1896-12 positions.
Recruitment and incentives funding was allocated by Congress through the “One Big Beautiful Bill” President Donald Trump signed into law.
Democrats and civil rights groups largely oppose the Trump administration’s sweeping deportation efforts, staging nationwide protests and interfering with some ICE operations. Attacks against ICE officers are up by 830% with dozens of Americans being arrested for the alleged attacks, The Center Square reported.
ICE is not alone in seeing a record number of applicants. A record number of people have applied to join the Secret Service, U.S. military, Coast Guard and Border Patrol under the Trump administration, The Center Square reported.
