Border Patrol, ICE recruiting retired former employees

Border Patrol and ICE’s recruitment of retired agents is part of their larger recruitment effort that included a rescheduled job fair and, according to NBC News, ICE is recruiting local officers from its partner law-enforcement agencies.

The job openings came as the total number of encounters at the Southwest Land Border plunged by 89% in the first six months under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown compared with the first six months of 2024 during the Biden administration.

If rehired, returning Border Patrol agents would be stationed in either the Big Bend, Laredo, or Rio Grande Sectors along the Texas-Mexico Border, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection job postings. Agents could also get deployed to the Buffalo, Grand Forks, Havre, Houlton, Spokane, or Swanton Sectors on the U.S.-Canada border.

The Big Bend, Laredo, and Rio Grande Sectors saw a combined 81% drop in encounters under the Trump administration’s border and immigration crackdown compared with the first six months of 2024 during the Biden administration.

CBP declined to comment on the recruitment efforts and the drop in encounters this year.

Broadened recruitment efforts

Border Patrol had 19,740 agents nationwide in 2020, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. The exact size of the Border Patrol’s staff is unknown past 2020, according to previous reporting by The Arizona Republic.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has more than 21,000 employees, according to previous reporting by The Arizona Republic. That includes employees of Enforcement and Removal Operations, the section tasked with identifying and deporting undocumented immigrants and immigrants who commit deportable crimes, and Homeland Security Investigations, the arm of ICE responsible for investigating immigration and customs crimes.

The One Big Beautiful Bill that President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4 allocated $4.1 billion to hiring and training additional CBP personnel, which includes Office of Field Operations officers and Border Patrol agents.

The One Big Beautiful Bill also allocated about $29.9 billion to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which would include money to recruit, hire and train additional ICE personnel and expansion of the 287(g) Task Force Model program, an agreement that allows local law enforcement to participate with ICE.

NBC News reported July 31 that ICE sent recruitment emails to local police officers from departments that participated in ICE’s 287(g) program.

The recruitment email created concern and support from local police departments participating in that program, NBC reported.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to NBC’s questions about local law enforcement concerns, but sent a statement that said “ICE is recruiting law enforcement, veterans, and other patriots who want to serve their country,” which includes local law-enforcement veterans and their 287(g) partners “who have already been trained and have valuable law enforcement experience.”

Homeland Security, the department that includes ICE and the Border Patrol, initially was set to host a job fair in Phoenix on Aug. 19 and Aug. 20, according to an event posting on the DHS website.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and several agencies had been expected to appear at the event, but the job fair was rescheduled and the event posting said “a new date and location will be announced soon.”

Earning two incomes possible

When retired U.S. government employees return to their old jobs, they are required by federal law to have their salaries cut to an amount equal to their pension, according to the U.S. General Services Administration.

There is an exception.

Retirees can fill out a “dual compensation waiver,” which allows them to work for a federal agency with a full salary and keep their pension, according to the GSA.

The Border Patrol and ICE offered returning employees the opportunity to fill out a dual compensation waiver.

Dual compensation waivers are offered when there is an “exceptional difficulty in recruiting or retaining qualified candidates for particular positions” or “when a temporary appointment is needed to address an ‘emergency involving a direct threat to life or property or other unusual circumstances,’” per the GSA.

All of the positions offered to CBP and ICE retirees are temporary positions, according to their job postings on USAJOBS, the federal government job site.

Why rehire retired agents?

Border Patrol retirees have the experience needed “to address the challenges ahead,” Andrea Bright, CBP’s human resources management assistant commissioner, said in a July 30 written statement.

It’s unclear what Bright meant by “the challenges ahead.”

ICE employees were frustrated under the Biden administration because they felt they could not “do the jobs they signed up to do,” acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in a July 31 written statement.

“Now, people are lining up to work with us because they know our officers and agents are allowed to enforce immigration law fairly and across the board, and that’s a cause people really believe in,” Lyons said.

The Uncle Sam-adorned ICE recruitment website said the “experience and unwavering commitment” of retired ICE agents and employees “are critically needed to secure our communities and uphold our laws.”