US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has launched a $100 million, year-long media blitz described as “wartime recruitment”, targeting right-wing audiences to fill thousands of new positions ahead of the next phase of mass deportations. The campaign, reported by the Washington Post, features ads with slogans like “Want to deport illegals with your absolute boys?” and directs applicants to a website stating: “America has been invaded by criminals and predators. We need YOU to get them out.”
The recruitment push aims to hire around 14,000 new employees, funded by a recent Congressional influx of $45 billion for immigration detention and $32 billion for enforcement. ICE is using geofencing to target people near military bases, Nascar races, gun shows, and college campuses, and plans to spend at least $8 million on online influencers in fitness, military, and tactical lifestyle niches to reach Gen Z and millennial audiences.
Incentives include signing bonuses of up to $50,000 and student loan repayment of up to $60,000. The agency has already received more than 220,000 applications and made over 18,000 tentative job offers, sometimes on the spot. At a recruitment fair in Arlington, Texas, over 100 people queued before the event, with attendees citing patriotism as their motivation.
Experts have raised concerns about the tone and speed of hiring. Americus Reed, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, told the Washington Post that the campaign targets “people who’ve got something to prove” under the guise of patriotism. The ads lean heavily on American symbolism while portraying immigrants as criminals.
ICE’s recruitment coincides with a record detention figure of 68,440 people, most without criminal convictions, though deportations have fallen short of the administration’s target of one million in the first year, with around 300,000 removals since President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. White House border czar Tom Homan has warned that arrests will “explode” in 2026, including more workplace enforcement.
