ICE Draws Criticism for “Wartime Recruitment” Campaign Amid Expanded Immigration Enforcement

A bomber jet streaking across the sky. Agents in tactical gear and body armor. A cowboy on horseback beneath text promising “We’ll have our home again.” These militaristic images form the core of a controversial $100 million recruitment campaign by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which the agency has internally described as a “wartime recruitment” strategy.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using this aggressive imagery to attract thousands of new personnel as ICE dramatically expands its enforcement capabilities. According to internal documents reported by The Washington Post in December 2025, the campaign specifically targets individuals interested in guns, tactical gear, and military culture.

ICE’s marketing strategy includes geofencing—delivering mobile ads to specific locations—near military bases and gun trade shows, as well as partnerships with UFC fights and similar events that attract the demographic profile the agency seeks.

The recruitment push has yielded significant results. In a January 3 press release, ICE announced it had brought in more than 12,000 officers and agents in less than a year, more than doubling its workforce from approximately 10,000 to 22,000 personnel. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin described this as a 120% expansion accomplished “in just about four months.”

To facilitate this rapid growth, DHS has compressed its training pipeline, reducing the program for new Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers from roughly 16 weeks to a streamlined six-to-eight-week curriculum. The agency maintains that despite the shortened timeframe, it has “cut redundancy and incorporated technology advancements without sacrificing basic subject matter content.”

The militaristic tone of recruitment materials has raised concerns among former officials about the kind of candidates being attracted to immigration enforcement. One social media advertisement shows a retro-style van with the caption, “Want to deport illegals with your absolute boys? Think about how many illegals you could fit in this bad boy!” Another ad featuring two men in tactical gear, one significantly older than the other, states “No age cap. Join ICE now.”

Oscar Hagelsieb, a retired Homeland Security Investigations supervisor who spent decades with ICE and describes himself as a three-time Trump voter who believes immigration laws “need to be enforced,” expressed concern about the recruitment messaging.

“You’re pushing this agenda that you’re doing it to repel these invaders,” Hagelsieb told Fox News Digital. “This isn’t combat.” He added that visuals of agents in battle dress and armored vehicles in urban centers like Minneapolis and Chicago were troubling because “the optics do not match the mission.”

The recruitment campaign comes amid heightened scrutiny following deadly encounters involving federal immigration agents. In January, U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent during an operation in Minneapolis. Weeks later, Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a nurse and Minneapolis resident.

Both incidents sparked protests in Minneapolis and other cities nationwide, intensifying debates over use of force, accountability, and federal immigration enforcement tactics in urban communities.

DHS officials defend their aggressive posture by citing a sharp rise in threats against immigration agents. According to the agency, assaults on immigration agents rose more than 1,300% in 2025, alongside steep increases in death threats and instances of doxxing targeting agents and their families.

David Lapan, who served as DHS press secretary during President Trump’s first term, called the current recruitment messaging and enforcement approach “a sharp departure from past practice.”

“Traditionally, Homeland Security—specifically Customs and Border Protection and ICE—have recruited for law enforcement, not for military-style operations,” Lapan said. “What we’re seeing now is different than anything I’ve seen across administrations, Democrat and Republican.”

Lapan also questioned the growing use of Border Patrol agents in interior enforcement operations, noting that historically, “Border Patrol’s job was close to the border. ICE handled interior enforcement. Mixing those missions is dangerous.”

In response to the controversies in Minneapolis, President Trump dispatched Tom Homan, a former acting ICE director, to take over federal immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota from Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, whose leadership had drawn criticism from local officials and former federal agents.

“I’m not here because the federal government has carried out this mission perfectly,” Homan acknowledged. “I don’t want to see anybody die—not officers, not members of the community, not the targets of operations.”