WASHINGTON AP - The agency responsible for carrying out President Donald Trump's mass deportations agenda says it has already made tentative job offers to more than 1,000 people as it ramps up hiring following the passage of legislation earlier this month giving the agency a massive infusion of cash.
The agency's spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement Thursday that the offers had been made after July 4. That's when Trump signed into law a broad package of tax breaks and spending cuts that also included about 170 billion for border security and immigration enforcement, spread out over five years.
"ICE has already issued over 1,000 tentative job offers since July 4. Many of these offers were to ICE officers who retired under President Biden because they were frustrated that they were not allowed to do their jobs," she said. "Now under President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE is excited to get back to work to remove rapists, murderers, gang members and pedophiles from our communities."
The budget is multiplying exponentially
ICE is the key agency responsible for executing Trump's campaign promise of carrying out the largest deportation operation in history. The administration has been ramping up immigration-related arrests across the country. Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and main architect of Trump's immigration policies, has said ICE officers would have a target of at least 3,000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first five months of Trump's second term.