Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials aren’t having the same amount of luck signing up new recruits in California as they are in other parts of the country due to the state’s competitive salaries, job security, and other perks, a new analysis found.
Local law enforcement unions are also pushing back on ICE, claiming the Trump administration is trying to poach their recruits and promote negative stereotypes about law enforcement duties.
“Agencies are short-staffed,” David Bier, an immigration expert at the Cato Institute, told the Los Angeles Times. “They are complaining constantly about recruitment and retention and looking every which way to maintain their workforce — and here comes along ICE — trying to pull those officers away.”
To meet its hiring goal of 10,000 new officers by the end of 2026, the Trump administration has placed flashy ads during NFL games, offered hefty $50,000 signing bonuses, student loan forgiveness, and six-figure salaries to future deportation officers. ICE has also dropped age requirements, eliminated its Spanish-language proficiency requirement, and cut back on training for new hires with law enforcement experience.
Despite its attractive compensation packages, ICE is still struggling to find recruits where it claims it needs them the most, like California.
While police officers’ pay in the state depends on things such as location, experience, and department budgets, California offers higher salaries than any other state in the country.
“The pay in California is incredible,” Jason Litchney, co-founder of recruiting firm All-Star Talent, told the Los Angeles Times. “Some of these Bay Area agencies are $200,000 a year without overtime.”
In Los Angeles, for example, the entry-level base pay for a police officer starts at more than $90,000. In San Francisco, it’s $120,000. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary for a California police officer in 2023 was $113,460, while the national average was $72,280.
A current job opening on USAJobs.gov lists the base salary for an ICE deportation officer in Los Angeles, San Diego, or San Francisco between $49,739-$89,528.
“Financially, it’s not worth it,” a former U.S. military member who now works in law enforcement in San Diego told the Washington Examiner. “I’ve got a good thing here. There’s also a disconnect between what [ICE] is offering and the reality of what you’re expected to do.”
There’s also the fine print. The $50,000 hiring bonus ICE is trumping up to prospective hires won’t be paid out in a lump sum. Instead, it will be paid out in installments over several years.
But it’s not just the lack of cash that’s keeping seasoned officers away from ICE.
There’s also the issue of job security.
Even though ICE has been trying to double its headcount under President Donald Trump, the administration has also been rewriting rules that would make it much easier to fire federal workers in the future. That could put job security and pensions on the line and hurt recruits under other administrations.
“I think there’s a very good chance a future Democratic administration is going to eliminate a lot of these positions,” said John Sandweg, who headed ICE under former President Barack Obama. Sandweg questioned in general whether “a state police officer who’s harbored a desire to become a federal agent” would want to join ICE now.
California law enforcement agencies, unions, and veterans of the multiple police forces have also been pushing back on ICE poaching their recruits.
Moses Castillo, a retired detective with more than three decades of experience with the Los Angeles Police Department, said it’s already tough trying to get qualified candidates to join the force.
“I think we’re in a public crisis across our nation where we are unable to hire people to do this profession because it’s already tough to begin with, and this just adds to it,” Castillo said. “Not only is it difficult to recruit, but it’s difficult to communicate and engage our community and build that trust.”
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A senior ICE official told the Washington Examiner, “ICE is unwavering in its commitment to recruiting and hiring top-tier talent across the nation, including in California. Despite claims to the contrary, ICE continues to successfully attract and hire deportation officers, criminal investigators, attorneys, and other professionals to support our critical mission.
“In fact,” they continued, “we’ve seen a notable surge in interest in ICE careers in recent months, reflecting the growing recognition of the importance of our work in safeguarding the homeland. Our competitive pay, robust benefits, and unparalleled opportunities to serve the nation make ICE an employer of choice for dedicated professionals, including in California.”
