The Trump administration is scrambling to fill empty desks at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by forcing Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employees to take jobs there—or else.
A slew of FEMA workers were told abruptly on Tuesday night of their new responsibilities, reported The American Prospect. The email stated that their reassignments were effective immediately and they had seven days to accept. If they decline, they could be removed from civil service.
Those targeted for enlistment in ICE’s ranks were probationary hires with less than one year’s tenure; they had been fired early in the Trump administration’s mass purge of government agencies but were later reinstated following a court order and had been on paid administrative leave for months.
A DHS spokesperson told The American Prospect that the employees would be detailed to ICE “for 90 days to assist with hiring and vetting,” as part of an “all-hands-on-deck strategy to recruit 10,000 new ICE agents.”
“Patriotic Americans are encouraged to apply at join.ice.gov,” they said.
The spokesperson added that the deployment would not disrupt FEMA’s operations.
The “Big Beautiful Bill,” which President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4, tripled ICE’s annual budget. It gave the agency $75 billion over four years to fuel Trump’s mass deportation efforts—which include the goal of deporting 1 million immigrants per year.
This means Noem now faces the challenge of hiring thousands of new agents to the agency. Since the bill’s passing, ICE has grown increasingly desperate to fill out its ranks. It has offered signing bonuses up to $50,000 to lure back recent retirees. It has also tempted recruits with student loan forgiveness and repayment plans, and even momentarily offered cash bonuses to agents before cancelling the proposal.
And DHS announced this week that it is eliminating age requirements for ICE employees.
“We are ENDING the age cap for ICE law enforcement,” Noem said in a Wednesday statement. “Qualified candidates can now apply with no age limit.”
ICE is facing a sharp decline in morale and some say officers are being pushed to extremes as they rush to deport as many people as possible.
“There is a constant state of anxiety,” Jason Houser, a former ICE chief of staff during the Biden administration, told The New York Times of the prevailing mood at the agency. “This isn’t about public safety or national security; this is about hitting a quota number. That’s it.”
“You’re going to have people who are being pushed to the limit, who in a rush may not get things right, including information on a person’s status,” added Sarah Saldaña, who served as ICE’s director during the Obama administration.
A handful of American citizens have already been detained and deported.
Sara Birchenough, an acting division director in staffing at the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer, which is responsible for HR within DHS, sent the Tuesday email with the subject line “Management Directed Reassignment Effective August 5, 2025.”
The email stated that FEMA employees would be reassigned “due to the mission requirements of the Department (of Homeland Security).”
“If you choose to decline this reassignment, or accept but fail to report for duty,” it concluded, “you may be subject to removal from Federal service.”
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