ICE is looking for the few, the proud — the old.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday that the country’s chief deportation force is scrapping its age cap and will now accept recruits of all ages, as it seeks to hire up for President Trump’s mass deportation push.
Under the previous rules, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement required most applicants to be under 37 to be considered for a criminal investigator’s job at Homeland Security Investigations, and under 40 to become a deportation officer at Enforcement and Removal Operations.
Ms. Noem said that’s all over.
“In the wake of Biden’s open borders disaster, our country needs dedicated Americans to join ICE to remove the worst of the worst out of our country,” her department said.
The move comes on the heels of ICE offering $50,000 signing bonuses.
Ms. Noem said it’s not that they’re hurting for candidates — more than 80,000 people applied to join ICE over the last week — but they want “even more patriots” to qualify.
It’s all part of a forward-leaning recruiting strategy.
ICE has asked retired federal law enforcement officers to come back, with the $50,000 bonus and other incentives that one person in an online forum for ICE officers labeled “wild.”
“Too hard to pass up,” that person wrote.
But others on the forum warned the old-timers to be wary of what they would be getting into.
“This is a pace that even the youngest [deportation officer] is having a hard time because of the workload, it’s something that has never ever been seen before,” that poster said.
Scott Shuchart, who served as a senior official at ICE in the Biden administration, said it was telling that Ms. Noem expanded the aperture for hires.
“ICE clearly isn’t being overwhelmed by qualified applicants, if they have to lower standards for hiring, whether it’s age or fitness,” he said. “I hope they aren’t lowering other important standards — that recruits aren’t spies, or criminals, or traitors, or drug addicts — because these are sworn officer positions, for people to be armed and out in the community.”
The hiring push comes as ICE is battling against a fierce backlash, led by immigrant rights advocates and prominent Democrats who compare the agency to Nazi storm troopers.
Assaults on ICE officers have risen 800%, as both immigrants and members of the larger community battle against the deportation push.
ICE can definitely use the help.
It is falling far short of the White House’s hope of 3,000 deportations a day. The latest agency data shows ICE is arresting fewer than 900 people a day, and deporting about 1,300 a day.
The agency just got a huge infusion of cash in Mr. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill budget law, so it has room to spend.
The FBI has also reported a surge in applications.
Homeland Security’s recruiting efforts have sparked a tussle with “South Park,” Comedy Central’s long-running irreverent animated show.
Homeland Security used an image from a “South Park” episode showing masked ICE officers on an enforcement operation in its recruiting materials on social media on Tuesday.
“Wait, so we are relevant?” the show’s X account said, referring back to the White House’s sniff after a Trump-mocking episode last month that the show “hasn’t been relevant for over 20 years.”
Homeland Security didn’t provide the latest recruiting numbers at the department, but Ms. Noem, testifying on Capitol Hill in May, said things were going gangbusters at that time.
She said the Coast Guard was up 108%, over its recruiting goal, Secret Service recruiting was up 200% compared to the Biden years and Customs and Border Protection was up 54%.
Ms. Noem said the Biden efforts at diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as new rules limiting enforcement activities, had hurt recruitment in the last administration.
After Mr. Trump unshackled the agencies, their recruitment rose.
“As we’ve allowed them to go back and do their jobs, we have had more and more interest in people, more applications coming in,” she said, calling it a “fantastic trend.”
Among ICE’s new promoters is actor Dean Cain, who played Superman on the television series “Lois & Clark” in the 1990s and said he was eager to help ICE with its mission.
“For those who don’t know, I am a sworn law enforcement officer, as well as being a filmmaker,” he said on social media. “I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it.”
He added: “If you want to help save America, ICE is arresting the worst of the worst. I like that, I voted for that.”
