The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing a new wave of hiring with the goal of bringing on 5,000 additional employees before the end of 2026, according to four individuals familiar with the plans, cited by The New York Times.
The figure would represent an increase of approximately 17% over the current agency workforce, which already had 29,000 employees in July, having grown by about 8,000 people since the Trump administration took office.
Most of the new recruits would be deportation officers, responsible for arrests, case management, and other immigration control tasks, according to The New York Times.
La expansión de ICE y sus efectos sobre la comunidad inmigrante seguirán generando novedades. Mantente al tanto de todos los cambios en nuestra sección de
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed in a statement that the new hiring is a direct result of the funding approved by Congress—an injection of over 100 billion dollars—and is not related to the staff turnover from the previous wave. The agency assured that it will maintain rigorous standards in the selection process.
However, the plan comes at a time when ICE faces a significant backlog in processing background checks from the previous expansion: nearly 7,500 employees hired last year are still awaiting the completion of the extensive security checks required for their positions, although they are allowed to work in a limited capacity while that process is finalized.
The first wave of hiring faced criticism for its size and speed. According to information published by The New York Times, some officials entered the agency with limited or still incomplete initial reviews. By the spring of 2026, hundreds of those new employees had already been removed from their positions, and in September ICE began to lay off more after uncovering discrepancies in their records.
ICE assures that this time it will apply stricter criteria, although doubts remain about the agency's ability to adequately review such a high volume of new hires in a short period.
“Verifying individuals properly takes time. It is more important to do it well than to do it quickly,” stated Deborah Fleischaker, former acting chief of staff of ICE during the Biden administration, as reported by The New York Times.
For the Cuban community in the United States, the context is particularly relevant. Cuban detentions by ICE increased by 463% between late 2024 and early 2026, according to an analysis by the Cato Institute.
More than 42,000 Cubans have pending final deportation orders in U.S. territory, and as of 2026, 882 deportations to Cuba have already been executed in 31 operations.
The ICE arrest campaign has reached unprecedented figures: 50,925 arrests in August, the third consecutive monthly record, with a total of 262,768 detentions from January to August 2026.
Agents have been under pressure to work seven days a week during the campaign, as ICE has intensified its immigration enforcement operations.
If the hiring plan is finalized, ICE would exceed 34,000 employees by the end of the year, consolidating a significant expansion of the agency's workforce.
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