Report: Federal agencies have deployed nearly 33,000 employees to assist ICE
Only around 15% of employees working on immigration enforcement are full-time immigration enforcement staff.
Eric Katz | September 4, 2025 05:24 PM ET
Homeland Personnel
Federal agencies have deployed nearly 33,000 employees to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement in its efforts to dramatically ramp up detention and deportation of undocumented individuals, according to a new report, significantly multiplying the number of employees working on enforcement efforts.
About 20,000 of those employees came from outside ICE, the Cato Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank, found, including some agencies that have sent significant portions of their workforces to the deportation effort. ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, which is responsible for investigating transnational crimes including drug and human trafficking, has sent more than 12,000 employees to the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division. HSI as of the most recent data on ICE’s website had “more than 10,000 employees,” meaning it has both grown and sent nearly its entire workforce to assist with immigration enforcement.
ERO itself has around 6,000 officers on staff.
Many of the other employees detailed to ICE come from the Justice Department, including the Bureau of Prisons, Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, U.S. Marshal Service and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The State Department has sent nearly 300 Diplomatic Security staff to ERO to aid in deportation efforts, while the Internal Revenue Service has around more than 1,700 employees assisting ICE. That marks a significant ramp up from June, when Government Executive reported IRS had 250 of its agents detailed to the Homeland Security Department.
https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/09/report-federal-agencies-have-deployed-nearly-33000-employees-assist-ice/407917/?oref=d1-featured-river-secondary
