Deplete the Police: How the federal immigration crackdown could cripple local law enforcement

One of the central components of President Trump's megabill, which became law on July 4, is a massive increase in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agency will receive an additional $76.5 billion over four years — nearly ten times its current budget. Billions are set aside to add 10,000 additional staff, a 50% increase in personnel.

The additional personnel are supposed to fulfill Trump's promise of a mass deportation campaign. White House Senior Adviser Stephen Miller said the Trump administration plans to achieve "a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day, and President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every day." The pace described by Miller would result in one million arrests per year.

There is a long way to go to achieve Miller's goal. In the first five months of Trump's term, ICE arrested an average of 650 immigrants per day. In June, daily ICE arrests surged to 1,224 before declining to 990 last month.

Notably, even at current levels, the vast majority of those in ICE detention have no criminal record. According to the latest data, 71.1% of those in ICE detention "have no criminal conviction." Among those convicted of crimes, most "committed only minor offenses, including traffic violations."

Even with ICE's virtually unlimited funds, filling 10,000 law enforcement jobs is difficult. Before ICE's expansion, there was already a significant shortage of qualified law enforcement officers. Across the country, police departments report an average staffing shortage of about 10%. In other words, there are very few qualified people for these jobs who are looking for work.

ICE has offered generous compensation to attract applicants, including a bonus of up to $50,000 and up to $60,000 in student loan forgiveness. But state and local police departments are offering similar bonuses ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 for recruits, as well as tuition reimbursement.

So the agency has resorted to more controversial practices. In certain areas, ICE partners with local police departments on immigration enforcement. This is known as a 287(g) program. A 287(g) agreement allows ICE to deputize state and local officers to enforce some aspects of federal immigration law. This includes questioning people about their immigration status and issuing ICE detainers so individuals can be transferred to federal custody. ICE markets these agreements to local law enforcement as a way to "make your community safer" and get "free training."

Now, ICE is attempting to exploit these agreements by directly targeting state and local law enforcement officers from departments that participate in 287(g) programs, sending emails encouraging them to work directly for ICE instead. The move has "sparked backlash" with several local sheriffs saying that they "feel betrayed."

"This is the thanks we get for helping them do their job?" Sheriff Grady Judd of Florida's Polk County told NBC News. Judd said the program should stop and demanded an apology from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

If ICE's poaching effort succeeds, it will shift law enforcement resources from fighting local crime to arresting non-violent immigrants with no criminal record. As the mass deportation effort expands, the percentage of immigrants detained by ICE with no criminal record is likely to rise.

The plan for "dominating" the media with "compelling recruitment messages"

To assist with its recruitment drive, ICE has also begun a massive PR campaign targeting social media, streaming platforms, job fairs, and college campuses. Since last week, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have posted a barrage of "Uncle Sam"-style graphics to their social media accounts, asking “patriots” to join ICE and “defend the homeland.”

This social media blitz is only the beginning. According to 404 Media, the agency is urgently seeking a marketing firm to help launch a campaign across streaming platforms, as well as social media. ICE is "looking for more than 42 million impressions in its target audience groups."

In a document providing information to potential contractors, ICE described the campaign as an “awareness saturation initiative aimed at dominating both digital and traditional media channels with urgent, compelling recruitment messages.” The agency is looking to target specific groups through its media campaign, such as former law enforcement and military officers, as well as Gen Z and recent college graduates.

In a press release last week, DHS said that its campaign would include job fairs and college campuses, but it is unclear whether those parts of the initiative are underway.

What happens when you add too many new law enforcement officers too quickly

DHS agencies have faced problems as a result of rapid expansion before. In the mid-2000s, the Border Patrol nearly doubled the size of its workforce in six years. In the years that followed, the agency saw increases in misconduct and corruption. The Trump administration's effort to quickly expand ICE’s workforce could result in similar issues.

The Border Patrol, which is under Customs and Border Protection (CBP), ran a similar recruitment campaign, sponsoring a NASCAR race car and airing ads during football games. But in order to quickly expand and recruit more candidates, the agency had to relax its hiring standards and training requirements. Background checks for applicants were also relaxed — or sometimes forgotten altogether. Between 2006 and 2009, the agency hired nearly 8,000 agents.

After the rapid expansion, issues like misconduct, corruption, and excessive force increased. Between 2007 and 2012, the number of employees arrested for misconduct, which includes issues such as civil rights violations and domestic violence, increased by 44%, reaching 336, the AP reported in 2017. A 2015 report from the Homeland Security Advisory Council found that “arrests for corruption of CBP personnel far exceed, on a per capita basis, such arrests at other federal law enforcement agencies.”

Corruption became so prevalent that CBP and DHS officials “ordered the agency to change its definition of ‘corruption’ to downplay the number of total incidents,” Politico Magazine reported. The agency also recorded a rise in CBP shootings and excessive force complaints, with over “1,700 allegations of excessive force” against CBP officers and Border Patrol agents between 2007 and 2012.