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A bomber jet streaking overhead. Armed agents in camouflage and body armor. A cowboy on horseback riding across a snowy plain beneath the words, “We’ll have our home again.”
Those are some of the images the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using to recruit immigration enforcement officers as it ramps up hiring for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and related agencies, leaning heavily on national security language and tactical imagery to sell the job.
ICE has described its $100 million recruitment push as a “wartime recruitment” strategy in internal planning documents as the agency moves to add thousands of new personnel, according to a Washington Post report published in December 2025.
The campaign’s tone has drawn attention to recruitment messaging at a time when DHS’ interactions with the public have grown increasingly tense and, in some cases, deadly.
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Internal ICE planning documents described a recruitment strategy that included targeted digital advertising aimed at audiences with interests in guns, tactical gear and military culture, as well as outreach tied to events like UFC fights and gun trade shows, according to the Post. The plan also called for “geofencing,” a marketing technique that delivers ads to mobile devices near specific locations, near military bases and gun trade show events.
Some former officials are questioning how the recruitment messaging aligns with the realities of civilian law enforcement work and public trust.
One of those voices is from Oscar Hagelsieb, a retired Homeland Security Investigations supervisor who spent decades with ICE and says he voted for President Donald Trump three times because immigration law “needs to be enforced.” Homeland Security Investigations probes transnational crime, terrorism and other threats.
But as DHS ramps up recruiting and expands enforcement operations, Hagelsieb told Fox News Digital the rhetoric and imagery represent a shift from past efforts, one that, in his view, “definitely attracts a different kind of people.”
Recent recruitment materials promoted by DHS and ICE include a mix of tactical and pop-culture imagery. One social media post shows a retro-style van alongside the caption, “Want to deport illegals with your absolute boys? Think about how many illegals you could fit in this bad boy!”
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Another ad says, “No age cap. Join ICE now” and features two men in camouflage and tactical-style vests, one appearing significantly older than the other.
“You’re pushing this agenda that you’re doing it … to repel these invaders,” Hagelsieb said. “This isn’t combat.”
He added that visuals of agents in battle dress and armored vehicles in cities like Minneapolis and Chicago had him “concerned,” saying the optics do not match the mission.
DHS, for its part, says recruitment messaging does not reflect any change in vetting or standards for immigration enforcement officers, even as hiring accelerates.
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ICE has described its recent hiring surge as unprecedented.
In a Jan. 3 press release, the agency said its recruitment campaign brought in more than 12,000 officers and agents in less than a year, more than doubling its workforce from roughly 10,000 to 22,000.
Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a press release that the increase occurred “in just about four months,” calling it a 120% expansion of ICE’s ranks.
As part of the surge, DHS has significantly compressed its training pipeline for ICE agents, reducing the total program for new Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers from roughly 16 weeks — previously preceded by a language course — to a streamlined six- to eight-week curriculum.
DHS says agents train six days a week and that it has “streamlined training to cut redundancy and incorporate technology advancements, without sacrificing basic subject matter content.”
The recruitment push and expanded enforcement come amid heightened public scrutiny after deadly encounters involving federal immigration agents.
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In January, U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Weeks later, Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a nurse and Minneapolis resident.
Both incidents prompted protests in Minneapolis and cities nationwide, intensifying debates over use of force, accountability and the role of federal immigration operations.
DHS officials argue the aggressive enforcement posture reflects a sharp rise in threats and violence against immigration agents.
After protests in Minneapolis, DHS said a Homeland Security Investigations officer was seriously injured when a protester bit off part of his finger, a claim the agency has cited as evidence of growing hostility toward officers.
According to DHS, assaults on immigration agents rose more than 1,300% in 2025. The agency also reports steep increases in death threats and instances of doxxing, or revealing personal information, targeting agents and their families. Those are trends leadership says have shaped security measures and recruitment messaging amid an increasingly hostile operational environment.
David Lapan, a retired Marine Corps colonel who served as DHS press secretary during President Donald Trump’s first term, said the current recruitment messaging and enforcement posture mark a sharp departure from past practice.
“Traditionally, Homeland Security — specifically Customs and Border Protection and ICE — have recruited for law enforcement, not for military-style operations,” Lapan told Fox News Digital. “What we’re seeing now is different than anything I’ve seen across administrations, Democrat and Republican.”
Lapan also questioned the growing use of Border Patrol agents in interior enforcement operations, saying the agencies historically were designed for distinct missions.
“Border Patrol’s job was close to the border,” he said. “ICE handled interior enforcement. Mixing those missions is dangerous.”
In the aftermath of the shootings and the protests that followed, Trump sent Tom Homan, a former acting ICE director, to Minnesota to take over oversight of federal immigration enforcement operations from Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino.
“I’m not here because the federal government has carried out this mission perfectly,” Homan said Thursday. “I don’t want to see anybody die — not officers, not members of the community, not the targets of operations.”
Bovino’s leadership of the operation drew scrutiny from local officials and former federal agents over the use of Border Patrol personnel in interior city enforcement and the optics and messaging surrounding the mission.
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“It’s unfair to those agents, because they’re not trained for that,” Hagelsieb said.
Fox News Digital reached out to DHS and ICE for comment and did not receive any replies.
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