ICE Has a New Recruitment Strategy—and It’s Terrifying
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning a massive recruiting drive in 2026, but the people they hope to attract aren’t typical federal workers.
The deportation agency has set aside $100 million for online ads over the next year, hoping to attract gun rights advocates and military enthusiasts to its ranks, according to an internal document obtained by The Washington Post.
The agency’s so-called “wartime recruiting” strategy involves a massive hiring campaign aimed at recruiting up to 10,000 new officers across the country. To do this, ICE is coordinating a massive social media campaign aimed at targeting people who have “attended UFC fights, listened to patriotic podcasts, or expressed an interest in firearms and tactical gear,” the report reported. Job.
Some of that money will be directed toward ads on Snapchat and conservative YouTube dupe Rumble, while other parts of the budget will be devoted to live marketing through livestreamers and right-wing influencers.
The recruiting blitz will also use contemporary software such as geofencing to deliver ICE ads directly to devices in certain areas, such as those near military bases, Nascar races, college campuses or gun shows and trade shows, according to the 30-page document.
The plan is a far cry from ICE’s typical recruiting methods, which historically relied on recruiting from local police offices and sheriff’s departments to find experienced talent with potential to advance to the federal level. Former ICE Director Sarah Saldaña, who led the department under President Barack Obama, warned Newsmax that ICE’s latest recruiting tactics could invite candidates who bring “a certain aggressiveness that may not be necessary in 85 percent” of the position.
It’s unclear how much of the $100 million allocated by ICE has already been spent, but the Department of Homeland Security awarded nearly $40 million to a few marketing companies to support the public affairs office, according to federal awards data reviewed by the Job.
Either way, ICE still has a lot of money to play for: Congress nearly tripled the agency’s budget this summer when it passed Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, increasing its appropriations from about $9.6 billion to $30 billion. (Meanwhile, lawmakers also took the ax to Medicaid, gutting billions of dollars from the essential public health care program.)
