As part of an effort to increase hiring, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is enlisting retired federal employees to join its enforcement, legal, and investigation teams.
In an email that was shared with NPR and shared on LinkedIn and other websites, they were invited to “serve once more.”
The email includes a message on a new webpage and reads, “Your experience and expertise are vitally needed, as this is a pivotal moment in our country’s history.”
“On behalf of a grateful nation, we proudly call upon you to RETURN TO MISSION and claim your vital role among the courageous men and women of ICE.”
The administration’s attempt to rehire retired employees coincides with its efforts to reduce the size of significant portions of the federal government through mass layoffs and other adjustments to long-standing practices. One of the few exceptions to the employment freezes and initiatives to encourage voluntary resignations has been immigration enforcement organizations.
To help it reach its goal of deporting one million people annually, the Trump administration plans to use extra congressional funding that was authorized last month to hire 10,000 people for immigration enforcement.
According to a senior DHS official’s email, the government has already deported over 185,000 people during Trump’s second term, but at the current rate, deportations are still not expected to exceed one million.
One of the main obstacles to increasing the rate of arrests, detentions, and deportations has been the lack of enforcement resources.
ICE, which makes arrests and deports in the U.S. interior, is a prime target of the Department of Homeland Security’s hiring frenzy.
Bonuses spread out over three years
The organization is providing a $50,000 signing bonus to former workers, which will be divided into $10,000 upon their return, $10,000 if they apply before early August, and the remaining $10,000 per year for a maximum of three years.
Retired workers will be able to keep receiving their new ICE salary and any current federal benefits, such as pension payments, under a “dual compensation waiver,” according to DHS.
Following lawmakers’ approval of $76.5 billion for ICE last month—nearly ten times its annual budget—with around $30 billion allocated to hiring explicitly, the increased hiring benefits and the larger hiring campaign were launched. The infusion of funds positions the agency as one of the most well-funded federal law enforcement organizations; in contrast, the FBI asked for almost $10 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.
However, the new monies, which are scheduled to be distributed through 2029, will also take time to start working.
According to DHS, it was dispersing recruitment materials to colleges, job fairs, big cities, and other networks. However, it delayed a career fair that was originally planned in Phoenix, Arizona.
ICE had little over 20,000 workers at the beginning of the presidency, with roughly 6,000 of them engaged in enforcement and removal activities.
The organization stated on Thursday that it had made more than 1,000 provisional job offers since July 4; however, it did not provide an explanation for the term “tentative.” According to a statement, one of the proposals was to reinstate policemen and agents who had retired during the previous administration.
Growing ICE’s workforce is historically challenging
ICE, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Customs and Border Protection are the three immigration-focused divisions of DHS.
In the past, ICE has been the smallest. Enforcement officers who conduct arrests, lawyers who represent clients in immigration court, and investigators who look into crimes unrelated to immigration, like fraud, cybercrimes, and drug or human trafficking, are all part of that agency.
According to an NPR analysis, the Biden administration retained almost the same number of ICE staff members from the first Trump administration.
According to the Partnership for Public Service’s evaluation of the finest federal agencies to work for, morale at ICE has consistently been low, with just modest gains in 2024.
According to its year-end report, ICE has had a particularly difficult time expanding its staff over the last ten years, throughout both major party regimes.
In the past, bonuses have increased hiring for other DHS divisions.
According to a report by the Government Accountability Office, recruiting bonuses helped CBP hire staff during the Biden administration. Nevertheless, in spite of the incentives, the agency was unable to dramatically boost the total number of applications, a challenge it also encountered during the first Trump administration.
Experts caution that while DHS concentrates its hiring efforts on enforcement, this may worsen the disparity between the number of individuals who are processed for deportation and the way their cases are handled in court.
For instance, there are currently close to 4 million cases pending in immigration courts.
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