This is an adapted excerpt from the Aug. 9 episode of “Velshi.”
The Department of Homeland Security has put its Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s recruitment efforts into overdrive. As ICE attempts to boost its numbers to carry out Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, the agency is carrying out an ad blitz. According to 404 Media, DHS is looking to run ads on streaming services like HBO Max and Hulu.
The landing page on the Join.ICE.gov website features an image of Uncle Sam with the all-capped headline “America Needs You.” Underneath, it eerily states: “America has been invaded by criminals and predators. We need YOU to get them out.”
The only real requirements to becoming an ICE agent these days seem to be a beating heart and an alignment with Trump’s deportation crackdown.
When it comes to hiring requirements, the immigration agency is lowering the bar. Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the agency would be eliminating the age cap for new hires, allowing people older than 40 and as young as 18 to join ICE’s ranks.
DHS is not only making it easier to become an ICE agent, but more financially attractive as well. The agency’s website touts that prospective agents could be entitled to signing bonuses of up to $50,000, the possibility of up to $60,000 in student loan repayment, and 25% premium pay.
The recruitment push is working. We know that it has brought in at least one new high-profile agent: 59-year-old actor and vocal Trump supporter Dean Cain, who once played Superman on TV. He shared on social media that he plans to become an ICE officer to “save America.”
Superman, literally an undocumented alien — like an actual alien from outer space — is now an ICE agent. You can’t make this stuff up.
Jokes aside, this drive to hire more personnel seems to be ideologically driven. ICE used to require employees to have an undergraduate degree, but not anymore. Apparently, you don’t even need a uniform. So many of the arrests we’re witnessing are being carried out by masked plainclothes officers.
The only real requirements to becoming an ICE agent these days seem to be a beating heart and an alignment with Trump’s deportation crackdown. It’s almost like the president is building an army of sycophants — and he has the money to do it. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act set aside nearly $170 billion for immigration enforcement and border security efforts, including $75 billion in extra funding for ICE specifically, making ICE the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the federal government. Just to put this into perspective: ICE now receives more funds and resources than most national militaries. It’s rapidly becoming the nation’s largest domestic police force, its size and power doubling that of the FBI. It seems like the Trump administration is building up ICE to be an alternative force that’s bigger, more politically loyal, unencumbered by standards and largely shielded from democratic accountability.
Ali Velshi is the host of “Velshi,” which airs Saturdays and Sundays on MSNBC. He has been awarded the National Headliner Award for Business & Consumer Reporting for “How the Wheels Came Off,” a special on the near collapse of the American auto industry. His work on disabled workers and Chicago’s red-light camera scandal in 2016 earned him two News and Documentary Emmy Award nominations, adding to a nomination in 2010 for his terrorism coverage.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.
Brianna Williams
Brianna Williams is an Associate Producer for "Velshi."
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