- ICE's rapid 10,000-hire push is chaotic and mismanaged, leaving rehired veterans idle, unsupervised, and without proper equipment or access.
- Massive spending on high-salary rehires and rushed vetting fuels morale, oversight, and efficiency problems amid pressure for deportation quotas.
WASHINGTON—It’s hard to imagine a more high-stakes scramble: With President Trump’s deportation machine revving up to hit 3,000 removals a day, the Department of Homeland Security is in the throes of a massive hiring blitz.
But according to multiple insiders, what should be a streamlined operation to bolster Immigration and Customs Enforcement has devolved into pure pandemonium—a “s–tshow,” as one veteran agent put it bluntly.
At the center of it all is Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor-turned-enforcer who’s earned the sardonic moniker “ICE Barbie” for her habit of suiting up in a flak jacket and joining agents on the front lines of immigration raids.
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Noem’s aggressive push embodies the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance vibe, but behind the scenes, the effort to add 10,000 new ICE officers is anything but polished.
It’s a tale of panic-driven decisions, sky-high salaries for desk jobs, and agents showing up to work with literally nothing to do.
Details of ICE’s Struggles
The frenzy kicked off amid mounting pressure from the top. Immigration hardliner Stephen Miller, now overseeing the deportation surge as the administration’s point man, has been setting “ridiculous” targets that have officials on edge.
One DHS official described tense calls where “everyone is being screamed at” over lagging numbers.
Enter the “Big Beautiful Bill,” a funding windfall that’s letting the department “throw money around” to lure back retired pros.
The strategy? About 85% of the new hires are experienced returnees from units like Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
These veterans are meant to handle the paperwork grind, freeing up fresh-faced agents for the gritty street work of rounding up targets.
Sounds smart on paper. But in practice? It’s a recipe for disorder.
“In many offices, the rehires showed up and we had nothing for them,” a veteran HSI agent told The Daily Beast.
Picture this: Seasoned officers, some fresh off retirement, strolling into field offices without badges, without guns, without even access to the computer systems.
They’re left twiddling their thumbs in temporary posts, often unsupervised, while the bureaucracy catches up.
A Deeper Look at Money Mismanagement
And the paychecks? They’re eye-watering.
Senior HSI rehires are slotting back in at GS-13 levels, pulling base salaries up to $137,000 nationwide—or as high as $171,268 in pricey spots like San Jose or San Francisco, thanks to a 35% locality bump.
Tack on 25% Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP), and you’re looking at serious cash.
But that’s not all: Many of these folks are double-dipping with fat pensions—$8,000 to $9,000 a month for some.
One HSI agent summed it up with a jaw-dropper: “Some older retired rehires are basically doing office-based shiftwork admin jobs, with no supervision, for like $300,000.”
It’s not just the golden parachutes raising eyebrows; it’s the sheer speed of it all.
“It has just been going so fast that the process is messed up,” another insider confessed.
“It has been chaotic to handle. Make no mistake, it is a s–tshow right now.”
Vetting? “Catastrophic,” sources say, with corners cut to hit quotas.
The goal is to process deportations at warp speed, but the result is a workforce that’s half-integrated at best, straining resources and morale.
This isn’t abstract inefficiency—it’s playing out in real time across DHS outposts.
Rehires meant for high-priority roles end up shuffling files in backrooms, while the “panic at the top of government” filters down, leaving mid-level managers scrambling.
Tricia McLaughlin Pushes False Narrative, Again
Noem herself has been front and center, even dangling $10,000 bonuses to TSA screeners during a recent government shutdown to keep the broader operation humming.
But for ICE, the hiring headache underscores a deeper tension: How do you scale up a deportation engine this massive without the gears grinding to a halt?
DHS isn’t staying silent on the critiques. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin pushed back hard, accusing detractors of missing the big picture.
“Your narrative fails to grasp the reality that child exploitation, human trafficking, terrorism, financial scams, and smuggling all have a nexus to illegal immigration,” she said in a statement to The Daily Beast, though majority of arrests have been of non-violent migrants without criminal records.
She highlighted ICE’s recent wins, noting the agency has nabbed illegal immigrants charged in more than 2,400 child sex crimes since January 20, 2025.
The focus, she stressed, remains laser-sharp on “the worst of the worst” and those with final removal orders.
Yet for all the defensive spin, the insiders’ accounts paint a vivid portrait of a department stretched thin under sky-high expectations.
What Happens Now?
As Trump’s second term barrels forward, with Noem’s raid selfies lighting up social media, the real story might be the unglamorous scramble happening off-camera.
Will this hiring circus stabilize in time to deliver on those blockbuster deportation promises? Or will it just keep spinning its wheels, burning cash and goodwill along the way?
One thing’s clear: In the rush to build the wall—metaphorical or otherwise—no one’s got time for a smooth onboarding.
And as the numbers climb, so does the scrutiny on whether this “s–tshow” is worth the spectacle.
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