ICE Officers and Bonuses

Q: Is it existent that ICE agents are financially rewarded for the fig of radical taken into custody?

A: The Department of Homeland Security has said determination is nary specified policy, and an migration deliberation vessel told america it is unaware of immoderate payments per arrest. The Wall Street Journal reported that agents “are rewarded for making arrests“ but didn’t accidental however they are rewarded. Immigration and Customs Enforcement rapidly scrapped a projected programme to wage bonuses to velocity up deportations.

FULL ANSWER

We’ve received respective questions from readers astir whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents get a bonus for each idiosyncratic they arrest. One scholar asked if agents are paid $1,500 for each migrant they arrest. Versions of this assertion have circulated connected societal media, with some posts pointing to a Wall Street Journal nonfiction that said ICE officers were “under pressure” to conscionable a regular nationwide apprehension extremity and were “rewarded for making arrests.” Some person interpreted this to mean a fiscal bonus.

The Department of Homeland Security and ICE didn’t respond to our aggregate inquiries asking whether agents person a bonus outgo for each arrest. However, a DHS spokesperson told Snopes, which wrote astir these claims, that “this argumentation has ne'er and ne'er was successful effect.”

The Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan deliberation tank, besides told america it wasn’t alert of immoderate per-arrest bonus structure. Michelle Mittelstadt, MPI’s manager of communications and nationalist affairs, said, “We bash not judge these claims regarding bonuses for arrests are accurate. ICE and its genitor agency, DHS, person ne'er indicated that they would acceptable up a bonus outgo operation rewarding unit per arrest.”

In August, the New York Times reported connected an ICE connection to wage bonuses for quicker deportations — but it was canceled earlier it started and didn’t pertain to arrests. According to the Times, an interior ICE email projected “cash bonuses to agents for deporting radical quickly, an inducement meant to motivate the unit to velocity up President Trump’s wide deportation campaign. Less than 4 hours later, the bureau abruptly canceled what was expected to beryllium a 30-day aviator program.”

The Times reported that documents it reviewed called for $100 and $200 bonuses for each migrant deported wrong 1 oregon 2 weeks of arrest. But a consequent email to ICE tract offices from Liana J. Castano, an ICE tract operations official, told unit to “PLEASE DISREGARD” the program, the paper reported. 

As we said, immoderate societal media posts astir apprehension bonuses person pointed to a Jan. 17 Wall Street Journal article. The nonfiction astir migration enforcement successful Minneapolis said that “officers present and elsewhere are nether unit from regular apprehension quotas that enactment has acceptable astatine 3,000 a time crossed the country—the fig it would instrumentality to scope 1 cardinal arrests successful a year, according to ICE officials acquainted with the matter. Though ICE has ne'er travel adjacent to gathering that regular goal, officers are rewarded for making arrests, adjacent if the immigrants they instrumentality successful are aboriginal released.”

The medication has publically acknowledged the 3,000 apprehension goal. In May, elder White House advisor Stephen Miller said connected Fox News that the medication was “looking to acceptable a extremity of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE each time and President Trump is going to support pushing to get that fig up higher each and each azygous day.”

It’s unclear from the Wall Street Journal nonfiction however officers are “rewarded for making arrests”; the communicative says thing astir fiscal payments and doesn’t connection immoderate much mentation astir these rewards. We reached retired to the Journal reporters for clarification, but we did not person a response.

We besides didn’t get a effect from DHS oregon ICE erstwhile we asked for remark connected the Journal’s article.

Some, including Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, posted that ICE was “rewarding” agents, an close summary of that article. Others interpreted this arsenic a “bonus.” For instance, David J. Bier, the manager of migration studies astatine the libertarian Cato Institute, posted portion of the nonfiction connected X and said, “ICE agents get bonuses erstwhile they marque wrongful arrests of US citizens.” Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, of Arizona, shared Bier’s station and said, “Mistakenly apprehension a US citizen? You get a large abdominous bonus.”

Beyond these interpretations of the Journal’s article, we were incapable to find grounds regarding claims astir per-arrest bonuses. Bier told america the Journal communicative was the lone accusation helium had. Gallego’s bureau hasn’t responded to our inquiry.

Snopes reported that immoderate of its readers appeared to misconstrue the regular 3,000 apprehension extremity with a “$3,000 bonus for each arrest,” arsenic immoderate readers asked about.

According to DHS press releases, determination is simply a signing bonus of up to $50,000 for caller ICE hires. But that’s a recruitment and retention incentive, and there’s nary denotation it is tied to the fig of arrests, oregon deportations for that matter, that an cause performs.

The Republicans’ 2025 fund bill, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, provided $858 cardinal for the signing bonuses, which, the authorities says, would beryllium for caller agents, officers oregon attorneys who hold to service for 5 years oregon those already moving for ICE who hold to enactment with the bureau for 2 much years.

Last year, DHS announced incentive funding to authorities and section instrumentality enforcement agencies that spouse with ICE to arrest immigrants surviving successful the state illegally. Beginning Oct. 1, DHS said that participating agencies would receive reimbursement for trained officers’ salaries and benefits on with quarterly performance-based bonuses. These monetary awards scope from $500 to $1,000 per “eligible task unit officer,” depending on “the palmy determination of amerciable aliens provided by ICE and wide assistance to further ICE’s ngo to Defend the Homeland.”

But that quarterly bonus programme is for authorities and section constabulary that cooperate with ICE, not a outgo per apprehension for ICE officers.

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