The Trump administration is taking a new approach. It’s looking to other agencies to quickly beef up its immigration enforcement team. This is because the administration is focused on making arrests and deportations.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is getting help from different agencies and federal groups. These range from the U.S. Marshals Service to the IRS. This is clear from memos released by DHS and emails obtained by NPR.
Sarah Saldaña, who used to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under President Barack Obama, said it’s normal for law enforcement agencies to help each other. For instance, IRS or Drug Enforcement Administration agents might assist in gathering evidence for fraud or human and drug trafficking cases, she explained.
However, she said the new directives seem different. “What’s not normal is to use them as a general rule. They’re being made available to, it seems, widen the reach of either the removal officers or the investigative agents,” Saldaña said. “That’s unusual because these agencies have their own jobs and areas of work.”
According to a 2024 year – end report, the ICE workforce has around 20,800 people. It’s smaller than the workforces of Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Also, it hasn’t grown in decades.
Officials have long said that the staffing levels in the DHS agencies that handle immigration enforcement are too low. This is true no matter which party is in power in the White House. ICE does domestic and international investigations through its Homeland Security Investigations department. It also takes care of deportations through its Enforcement and Removal Operations branch.
Now, ICE officers are under more pressure. The White House is unhappy with the speed of arrests. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told CNN that the agency has a daily goal. Each of its 20 field offices should arrest at least 75 people. But the White House wants them to do even more.
An ICE spokesperson said, “U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement knows how important its relationships with law enforcement partners are. This helps it carry out its mission to best serve national security, public safety, and border security. ICE has always worked with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies as part of its job.”
But government employees are worried. They’re not sure they’re ready to help with this new task. At the same time, ICE officers are under pressure to meet high arrest quotas.
Bringing in Other Agencies
In the first week of his second term, Trump officials issued a directive. They thought it was “key to keeping President Trump’s promise to carry out mass deportations.”
The memo gave law enforcement officials in the U.S. Marshals Service, the DEA, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons the power to look into and arrest people suspected of being in the country illegally. Most of these officials didn’t have tasks related to ICE’s deportation mission before.
Then – acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman said in a statement, “For decades, not enough resources have been put into finding and arresting illegal aliens. This is a big step to fix that problem.” The department has since shown these collaborations on social media.
This move came after U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem wrote to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last month. She asked for “qualified officials” from the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigations unit to help with immigration enforcement. This included helping with investigating human smuggling, overseeing contracts, managing detention dockets, and physically moving or helping transport and deport people without legal status in the U.S.
The administration is also using immigration detention and getting support from the military, including at military bases across the country.
Saldaña, the former Obama – era official, said she can see problems with bringing in other agencies to help deport people without legal status. For example, other agencies might not know ICE’s mission and procedures.
Eddie Walker, president of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 247, agreed that it’s a new policy for agents to help ICE across the board. “It’s definitely not the usual way,” Walker said. “I’m not sure how many people would be eager to do that job. It seems very different from what they usually do.”
Noem also signed memorandums in February. These deputized up to 600 special agents in the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service across the country. They will help with arrests and deportations.
ICE also seems to be trying to get workers from other agencies within DHS. An email obtained by NPR shows that in early February, the USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate emailed some of its remote – working employees. These employees, who are trained to investigate immigration – related fraud, were told that their names had been “put forward” to be considered for short – term ICE assignments and task forces. The USCIS email said, “We’re letting you know that you might be contacted. And you’re expected to say if you’re available when asked.”
It’s not clear how many employees from other agencies have been deputized to work for ICE. Also, it’s not known how well their support is working.
Pushback from Employees, Democrats
But federal employees and Democratic lawmakers are against some of these reassignments.
Kathleen Toomey, associate deputy director of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), said that four BOP facilities are now holding about 700 immigration detainees. Trump also used federal prisons to hold detainees during his first term.
Democrats sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi. They were worried that the prisons might not be able to handle this change in the prison population. Democrats sent another letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R – Iowa. It included a statement from an anonymous BOP employee. The employee wrote, “We haven’t been trained or hired for this. We don’t know why these people are being detained. BOP employees didn’t sign up for this. We haven’t been trained for it. We’re not getting paid extra for it. And it’s not in our contracts.”
Congressional Funding Needs
Congress can increase ICE’s capacity by giving it a bigger budget. This could mean ICE won’t need to get workers from other agencies.
Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R – S.C., told reporters on Capitol Hill, “Tom Homan said, ‘I am begging you for money.’ And the director of the Office of Management and Budget said, ‘We can’t take money from other accounts anymore.'”
Graham said the administration is asking for an extra $175 billion. This would cover four years of immigration – related security enforcement.
Last week, the Senate passed a budget resolution with that amount. This is an early step in the reconciliation process. Republicans could use this to pass much of Trump’s legislative plan with only Republican votes.
But first, congressional Republicans need to agree. House Republicans passed a different budget resolution on Tuesday. Reconciliation can only happen if both the House and the Senate eventually agree on the same resolution.
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