The Department of Homeland Security is ramping up efforts to recruit thousands of new agents for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Acting Director Todd Lyons told Newsmax Americans are answering the call.
In an interview on “Saturday Report,” Lyons said there’s overwhelming support for Defend the Homeland, ICE’s new hiring campaign launched with funding from President Donald Trump’s newly signed border-security package. The initiative includes up to $50,000 in signing bonuses and student loan forgiveness to attract qualified candidates.
“It’s been incredible, the outpouring of support not only from this administration but from Secretary Noem,” Lyons said, referencing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “She let us have the latitude to go out there and recruit a lot of the folks that we lost under the last administration.”
According to Lyons, morale within ICE had plummeted in recent years, especially within Enforcement and Removal Operations, the division responsible for apprehending and deporting illegal immigrants. Many officers and analysts left, citing an inability to carry out their mission.
“The ranks were just decimated,” Lyons said. “We weren’t given the support needed to do our mission.”
But Lyons said that’s changing. Under new leadership and with renewed funding, ICE is aiming to meet Trump’s goal of hiring 10,000 new agents and deporting 1 million people per year. Public support has grown, he said, as Americans better understand ICE’s role in removing dangerous individuals from communities.
“Now you see on all our social media accounts, all our press releases the great work that the men and women of ICE are doing all across this country to get the worst of the worst out of our neighborhoods,” Lyons said.
The agency is especially targeting veterans, active-duty military members nearing separation, and civilians interested in law enforcement careers. Lyons said student loan forgiveness and competitive benefits add to the appeal, but the deeper motivation is service.
“Come work for an agency that’s actually out there making a difference every day,” he said. “I think that’s what a lot of Americans are now understanding. They’re actually seeing what the true mission of ICE is, and they want to be a part of it.”
The Defend the Homeland campaign features new recruiting posters with images of Trump and Noem encouraging applicants to join what DHS calls “the next generation of law enforcement professionals to find, arrest, and remove criminal illegal aliens.”
ICE officials say thousands of applications have already come in since the campaign launched. Lyons said he hopes more Americans will step forward.
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