ICE to allegedly spend $100 million to recruit at gun shows and UFC fights

Agency Calls It Wartime Recruitment

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is launching its most aggressive hiring push ever.

Internal documents reveal a $100 million yearlong campaign targeting gun enthusiasts, UFC fans, and military supporters through influencers, targeted ads, and location-tracking technology.

The agency calls it a wartime recruitment strategy, and the ads are already appearing on phones near NASCAR races, military bases, and gun shows.

What the documents reveal about who ICE wants to hire, and how fast the agency is moving, explains a lot about where immigration enforcement is headed.

UFC Fans and Gun Owners Top the List

The 30-page strategy document describes exactly who ICE wants to reach.

The campaign targets people who have attended UFC fights, listened to patriotic podcasts, or shown interest in guns and tactical gear.

Ads will also go to users interested in conservative news and politics, physical training, and military affairs. The document describes ideal recruits as having patriotic or conservative-leaning lifestyles.

Country music radio listeners, true crime podcast fans, and followers of tactical gear brands are all on the target list.

Phones Near Gun Shows Get ICE Ads

ICE is using geofencing, an advertising technique that creates virtual boundaries around real locations and sends ads to any phone that crosses into the zone.

Under this strategy, anyone who steps near a military base, NASCAR race, college campus, or gun show could receive ICE recruitment ads on their phone browser or social media feed.

The technology works in real time, meaning ads can appear within minutes of someone entering a target area. ICE also had a recruitment booth at the Cook Out Southern 500 NASCAR race in South Carolina last August.

Influencers Get $8 Million to Sell ICE Jobs

The campaign dedicates at least $8 million to online influencer partnerships.

ICE wants creators popular with Gen Z and millennials in the military families, fitness, and tactical lifestyle communities to post content across YouTube, Rumble, Instagram, and Facebook.

The document says former agents, veterans, and pro-ICE creators would host live streams and share stories to normalize and humanize careers at ICE through authentic peer-to-peer messaging.

Officials estimate the influencer program alone will generate over 5,000 job applications.

Snapchat and Rumble Are Part of the Plan

Beyond influencers, ICE plans to flood the market with ads on platforms ranging from Snapchat to Rumble, a video service popular with conservatives.

The campaign also includes placements on gaming consoles, connected televisions, and streaming services like ESPN, Fox News, and Paramount+.

Newspapers, billboards, and even box trucks will carry recruitment messaging.

The goal is to dominate every channel where potential recruits spend their time, leaving no corner of conservative media untouched.

$50,000 Bonuses and No Age Limits

To sweeten the offer, ICE is dangling $50,000 signing bonuses paid out over several years, plus up to $60,000 in student loan repayment.

The agency also removed all age limits, accepting applicants as young as 18.

Previously, candidates had to be at least 21 and no older than 37 or 40 depending on the role. Salaries for deportation officers range from $50,000 to $90,000 a year.

The recruitment page features Uncle Sam pointing at the viewer with the words America has been invaded by criminals and predators.

We need YOU to get them out.

Congress Made ICE the Richest Agency

The hiring spree became possible after Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July 2025.

The law tripled ICE’s enforcement and deportation budget to roughly $30 billion and allocated $45 billion to expand detention capacity to nearly 100,000 beds.

ICE became the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the federal government, surpassing even the FBI. The funding included money to hire 10,000 new officers with the goal of reaching one million deportations per year.

ICE Added 12,000 Agents in Four Months

By January 2026, the Department of Homeland Security announced that ICE had exceeded its hiring target.

The agency grew from about 10,000 officers to more than 22,000, a 120 percent increase achieved in roughly four months. DHS said it received over 220,000 applications and issued more than 18,000 tentative job offers.

A spokesperson called the campaign wildly successful and said more than 85 percent of new hires had prior law enforcement experience.

The agency says it is still hiring.

Training Dropped From Five Months to 47 Days

Critics say the rapid expansion came at a cost.

ICE reportedly cut its training academy from five months to just 47 days. Three officials told The Atlantic the number was chosen because Trump is the 47th president.

The shortened program raises questions about whether new officers receive adequate instruction on immigration law, constitutional protections, and use of force.

Former acting ICE director John Sandweg warned that the speed and reduced standards could lead to compromises that affect public safety.

Some Recruits Arrived Without Background Checks

NBC News reported that ICE rushed recruits into training before completing the vetting process.

Some trainees arrived without having submitted fingerprints or taken drug tests. ICE only discovered problems after recruits admitted.

Staff at the training academy in Brunswick, Georgia found one recruit had previously been charged with strong-arm robbery and battery from a domestic violence incident.

A current DHS official told NBC there is absolutely concern that some people are slipping through the cracks.

Over 200 Trainees Already Sent Home

More than 200 recruits have been dismissed during training for failing to meet even the lowered requirements.

Nearly half could not pass a written exam that allows officers to consult their textbooks and notes. The test covers the Immigration and Nationality Act and Fourth Amendment search and seizure rules.

Just under 10 were dismissed for criminal charges, failed drug tests, or safety concerns that should have been flagged before they arrived.

Democratic lawmakers have asked the Government Accountability Office to review the hiring practices.

Former Leaders Say Speed Invites Danger

Former ICE director Sarah Saldana, who led the agency under President Obama, warned that the campaign’s wartime framing could attract the wrong applicants.

She said the appeal to law enforcement should not be the quicker we get out there and run over people, the better off this country will be.

The aggressive tactics foster a certain aggressiveness that may not be necessary in 85 percent of what officers do, she added.

Senators Padilla and Booker wrote that deploying underqualified personnel all but guarantees breaches of constitutional obligations and threatens public safety.

The agency shows no signs of slowing down.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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