The Donald Trump administration in the United States is ramping up recruitment of enforcement personnel in order to accelerate its policy of deporting illegal immigrants.

Massive Recruitment of Illegal Immigration Enforcement Personnel
Hiring Offensive with Bonuses and High Salaries
110,000 Applicants, Hiring Scale Uncertain

On August 17 (local time), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is aggressively advertising job openings for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on social media and other platforms, offering unprecedented incentives.

ICE is offering a signing bonus of up to $50,000 and up to $60,000 in student loan repayment assistance for new hires. Positions are divided into "Deportation Officer," "Criminal Investigator," and "General Attorney." The annual salary for deportation officers ranges from $49,739 to $101,860, while criminal investigators can earn between $63,148 and $144,031. According to the WSJ, these figures are higher than the starting salaries for new police officers in New York and Chicago.

Additionally, ICE has launched a "Return to Mission" campaign, creating new positions for those over 40 and actively recruiting retired law enforcement personnel to return to duty.

Citizens protesting ICE's detention policies. Unrelated to the article. Photo by AFP Yonhap News.

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The Department of Homeland Security announced that approximately 110,000 people have applied for this campaign. However, the actual number of hires remains uncertain. ICE's hiring process includes strict requirements such as physical fitness tests and medical examinations, and some job postings include warnings that applicants must be able to work in dangerous and highly stressful situations.

In fact, since ICE's work closely resembles that of local police, a significant portion of applicants are expected to be experienced professionals, such as already-trained police officers. However, some critics argue that ICE is poaching personnel from local law enforcement agencies. Grady Judd, sheriff of Florida, pointed out, "It is not right for a federal agency to undermine local police forces in this way."

ICE has recently sparked controversy by conducting random raids in areas with high immigrant populations. This is part of an effort to increase deportation numbers in line with the Trump administration's hardline directives. According to data from the "Deportation Data Project," which analyzes deportation trends, the Trump administration deported 144,000 people by the end of June this year, a slight increase compared to the same period under the Biden administration (approximately 136,000 people).