Trump has made ICE the front line of his hardline immigration policy. (Photo: Christopher Dilts / Bloomberg via Getty Images file)
Donald Trump’s immigration policy is not only impacting migrants but also taking a toll on US immigration officers. Inside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), many agents say they feel overworked, stressed, and frustrated as they try to keep pace with Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda.
Current and former officials told Reuters that burnout is rising. Some agents work long hours, face public anger during raids, and fear losing their jobs if they fail to meet arrest quotas.
Trump has made ICE the front line of his hardline immigration policy. The White House pushed ICE to sharply increase arrests, demanding nearly 3,000 a day. Arrests jumped more than 250% in June compared to the year before.
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But officers say this pace is unsustainable. One current official admitted, “The demands they placed on us were unrealistic. It was not done safely or in a manner to make us most successful.”
Trump said he wanted to deport “the worst of the worst.” But ICE data shows rising arrests of non-criminals.
During Trump’s first six months, arrests of people with no criminal record climbed to 221 per day, compared with 80 under Biden. Some of those detained were green card holders, visa holders, and even US citizens.
Several ICE agents complained that they were being pushed away from investigating serious crimes like human trafficking and gangs, and forced instead to meet daily arrest quotas.
Videos of ICE raids—officers in tactical gear handcuffing parents outside schools, men at bus stops, or workers at Home Depot—have fueled anger nationwide. In many neighborhoods, residents chased ICE agents away.
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Kerry Doyle, a former ICE legal advisor, said: “In a lot of communities, they're not looked upon favourably for the work they do. So I'm sure that's stressful for them and their families.”
Morale has dropped further due to frequent leadership changes and constant pressure to deliver higher arrest numbers.
To ease the stress, ICE is hiring aggressively. A Republican-backed spending package gave the agency $75 billion, allowing it to recruit 10,000 new officers over four years.
The hiring push comes with a flashy campaign—wartime-style posters and ads on Instagram and YouTube calling for “patriotic Americans.” So far, more than 115,000 have applied.
But critics warn that hiring too fast could bring in less qualified officers, just as happened with Border Patrol in the mid-2000s, which saw a rise in corruption.
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan in admitted the workload is heavy but defended the policy, “The president declared a national emergency. I think morale is good. I think morale will get even better as we bring more resources on.”
While Trump’s tough stance on immigration dominates headlines, the hidden story is the strain on ICE itself. Officers say they are exhausted, caught between political demands, angry communities, and personal burnout.
The story of ICE under Trump is not just about immigration—it is about the human cost of enforcing it.
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