U.S. Government Details 28,000 Agents to ICE Enforcement Operations

The United States government has detailed more than 28,000 federal law enforcement personnel to the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) component of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This combined force is being utilized for immigration arrests and other priorities set by the White House. The mobilization includes significant portions of other agencies' workforces, specifically 84 percent of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation division and 70 percent of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Agents from the FBI, ATF, and the State Department Diplomatic Security service have also been incorporated into the force. Attorney General Pam Bondi described the arrest of journalists and other individuals as the work of federal agents.

In response, Democratic lawmakers are attempting to reform ICE by pushing for a Department of Homeland Security inspector general probe into use of force. They are also negotiating constraints on the use of masks and body cameras while withholding DHS funding. Critics of these measures argue that the reforms are too narrow because they focus on ICE and CBP, ignoring the thousands of agents from other federal agencies now operating as a de facto national police force.