Overview

• The Department of Homeland Security says more than 100,000 people applied in less than two weeks for 10,000 new ICE positions under the Trump administration’s push.
• Recruitment incentives include up to $50,000 in signing bonuses, as much as $60,000 in student-loan relief and the elimination of previous age caps.
• All prospective agents must pass medical evaluations, drug tests and physical-fitness assessments before beginning ICE law-enforcement training.
• Limited capacity at Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, security-clearance backlogs and difficulty deploying hires across priority regions will slow the swell of new agents.
• Administration officials frame the expansion as essential for homeland security, and critics caution it could politicize staffing, heighten community fear and prompt legal challenges.