Trump signs $28 billion ICE expansion: 10,000 agents to be hired, watchdog offices cut, $10,000 bonuses offered

No fluff here. ICE just landed a massive budget increase. Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill on July 4. DHS now gets $28 billion every year. That money fuels detention, deportation, and a hiring spree unlike anything ICE’s seen before.

Goal is 10,000 new agents by 2029. First batch is 2,500. That number’s baked into FY2025 targets. DHS started moving early, job fairs are live. June’s Career Expo pulled 3,000 applicants. One third walked out with offers. Numbers backed.

Pay scale’s decent. Job listings show salaries from $49,739 up to $89,528. ICE and Border Patrol roles both eligible. Bonus confirmed: $10,000 signing check. Federal benefits still attached.

Behind the curtain, oversight is fading. Three internal watchdog offices were cut back. Detention Ombudsman, Citizenship Ombudsman, Civil Rights and Liberties, all thinned out. Some roles unfilled. Some pulled. DHS hasn’t denied it. Just quiet.

Detention capacity also scaling. ICE beds moving toward 100,000. Field quota bumped, now 7,000 arrests daily. 287(g) program expanded again. Local cops joining the net. Over 800 jurisdictions signed on.

Execution’s slow, but funding’s in place. ICE tends to stall on big pushes. Vetting takes time. Training takes longer. But the first wave is moving.

Sources

https://www.visaverge.com/news/is-trumps-plan-to-hire-10000-new-ice-agents-feasible/

https://www.newsweek.com/number-ice-agents-increase-50-percent-what-know-2098652

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/07/04/secretary-noem-commends-president-trump-and-one-big-beautiful-bill-signing-law

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-deportations-funding-ice-agents-hiring-b2786045.html

https://www.aol.com/news/trump-wants-hire-10-000-100000264.html

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