Over 150,000 people have now applied for jobs within the U.S. Department for Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency as the Trump administration ramps up its hardline stance on immigration.
With ICE raids on communities intensifying, it is proving to be a magnet to those supportive of the government’s divisive approach.
“ICE has received more than 150,000 applications from patriotic Americans who want to defend the homeland by removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from the U.S., Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “We have already issued more than 18,000 tentative job offers.
“Americans are answering their country’s call to serve and help remove murderers, pedophiles, rapists, terrorists, and gang members from our country.”
Noem, nicknamed “ICE Barbie” due to her enthusiasm for donning ICE gear and asking her social media followers to judge their favourite image of her on horseback, has been in the state of Illinois this week, overseeing ICE raids.
On Tuesday she posted a video of a dawn raid by ICE on the outskirts of Chicago, appearing to show people being detained.
“President Trump has been clear: if politicians will not put the safety of their citizens first, this administration will. I was on the ground in Chicago today to make clear we are not backing down.”
The escalation in immigration enforcement, part of an operation targeting immigrants in the U.S. illegally with criminal records, has seen over 200,000 people arrested, and over 50,000 detained so far this year, with many being seized while going to work, outside courthouses, and at store parking lots.
Major crackdowns in cities including Boston and Chicago have seen families hole up in homes – afraid to leave and risk detainment – and last week ICE agents shot a man dead in Illinois after he allegedly resisted arrest and hit officers with a car.
Noem has recently said she wants the U.S. to invest in a fleet of planes specifically for deportations following the ICE raids.
In June this year, protests against the government and ICE operations spread to at least 40 cities across the U.S. with major demonstrations and civil unrest in Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago and New York City.
On Tuesday ICE warned that “anyone – regardless of immigration status – who assaults an ICE officer WILL face federal felony assault charges and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.”
The agency’s post on X was accompanied by the image of a clenched fist emblazoned with the words “think before you resist”.
The Trump administration has deployed emotive language for the crackdowns, including “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago, and “Patriot 2.0” in Massachusetts, and they come against a backdrop of political turmoil as the U.S. grapples with increasing polarisation worsened by the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
