DHS: ICE Announces Historic 120% Manpower Increase, Thanks to Recruitment Campaign that brought in 12,000 Officers and Agents

Kevin R. Johnson

05 Jan 2026 — 1 min read

On January 3, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security announced that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that "its unprecedented nationwide recruitment campaign has shattered expectations, hiring more than 12,000 officers and agents in less than a year."

Reportedly receiving more than 220,000 applications, ICE exceeded its original hiring target for the year of 10,000 new officers and agents. The DHS stated that "we have more than doubled our officers and agents from 10,000 to 22,000."

“. . . [T]hanks to the Big Beautiful Bill that President Trump signed, we have an additional 12,000 ICE officers and agents on the ground across the country,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

From the Bookshelves: Asian American History by Huping Ling

Asian American History by Huping Ling, Rutgers University Press 2023 Book description: Asian American History provides a comprehensive historical dive into Asian immigration to the United States, exploring it in international and domestic contexts and alongside the significant elements that define Asian America: imperialism and global capitalist expansion; labor and

Immigration Article of the Day: A Qualified Defense of Immigration Exceptionalism by Anja Bossow

A Qualified Defense of Immigration Exceptionalism by Anja Bossow Abstract It is conventional wisdom that immigration is an area in which the normal rules of constitutional law simply do not apply. Less clear is why this should be the case. Scholars have consistently opposed immigration exceptionalism as a rights-depriving and

From the Bookshelves: Unwelcome Shores: Black Refugees in America by Bernadette Ludwig

Unwelcome Shores: Black Refugees in America by Bernadette Ludwig (2025) Rutgers University Press description of the book: Unwelcome Shores is an ethnographic study of the Liberian refugee community in Staten Island, New York, home to the largest per capita concentration of Liberians in the U.S., that sheds light on

Immigration Article of the Day: Blind Spots: Choice, Colorblindness, and the Contemporary Experience of Latinx Immigrant Students in America's Schools by Rachel E. Moran

Blind Spots: Choice, Colorblindness, and the Contemporary Experience of Latinx Immigrant Students in America's Schools by Rachel E. Moran, Arizona State University Law Review, Forthcoming 2027 Abstract Our nation’s understanding of educational opportunity for Latinx immigrant students in the United States is shaped by two prominent narratives

Read more

From the Bookshelves: Asian American History by Huping Ling

Immigration Article of the Day: A Qualified Defense of Immigration Exceptionalism by Anja Bossow

From the Bookshelves: Unwelcome Shores: Black Refugees in America by Bernadette Ludwig

Immigration Article of the Day: Blind Spots: Choice, Colorblindness, and the Contemporary Experience of Latinx Immigrant Students in America's Schools by Rachel E. Moran