Immigration and Customs Enforcement have received more than 200,000 job applications since President Trump launched its new crackdown on illegal immigration, officials said.
That includes a surge in applications since the government shutdown started at the end of September, according to a Friday announcement.
The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that upwards of 200,000 “patriotic Americans” had submitted applications to join ICE.
“ICE has received more than 200,000 applications from patriotic Americans who want to defend the homeland by removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from the U.S. Americans are answering their country’s call to serve and help remove murderers, pedophiles, rapists, terrorists, and gang members from our country,” Noem said in a statement.
In mid-September, exactly two weeks before the government shutdown started, Noem boasted that the agency had received approximately 150,000 applications and extended 18,000 tentative offers.
In August, Noem also announced that the federal government would eliminate the age cap so that anyone could apply to be an ICE agent.
ICE raids in many major cities, including NYC, have spurred seemingly endless protests, and DHS estimated that the agents have faced an 8,000% increase in death threats and violent attacks.
ICE agents have had boots on the ground in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Chicago and New York City. Their presence in each sparked widespread protests where some agitators would try to use their personal vehicles as battering rams.
The leaders of each city and state, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, were quick to push back against the Trump administration and repeatedly called on the agents to vacate.
To compensate, DHS offers its top recruits an enticing jackpot of benefits, including a maximum $50,000 signing bonus and even six-figure salaries.
While many government workers were furloughed or pushed to work without pay during the government shutdown, ICE agents received a “super check” including “4 days loss, their overtime, and their next pay period” which drew from the copious funds provided by Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, Noem said on X.
The megabill, which was ratified in early July, provided the agency with $75 billion in extra funding, with $30 million set aside for arrest and deportation efforts and the rest dedicated to expanding detention capabilities.
DHS also revamped its advertising for ICE and started to lean more heavily on pop culture, including bizarre edits of raids dubbed over with popular songs — which many of the artists and companies didn’t approve of.
Some other advertisements include modernized propaganda used during wars to encourage civilian enlistment in the military, including ones featuring the infamous Uncle Sam, a fictional personification of the US.
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