ICE Is About To Go on a Social Media and TV Ad Recruiting Blitz

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is urgently looking for a company to help it “dominate” digital media channels with advertisements in an attempt to recruit 14,050 more personnel, according to U.S. government contracting records reviewed by 404 Media. The move, which ICE wants to touch everything from social media ads to those played on popular streaming services like Hulu and HBO Max, is especially targeted towards Gen Z, according to the documents.

The push for recruitment advertising is the latest sign that ICE is trying to aggressively expand after receiving a new budget allocation of tens of billions of dollars, and comes alongside the agency building a nationwide network of migrant tent camps. If the recruitment drive is successful, it would nearly double ICE’s number of personnel.

“ICE has an immediate need to begin recruitment efforts and requires specialized commercial advertising experience, established infrastructure, and qualified personnel to activate without delay,” the request for information (RFI) posted online reads. An RFI is often the first step in the government purchasing technology or services, in which it asks relevant companies to submit details on what they can offer the agency and for how much. The RFI adds “This effort ties to a broader national launch and awareness saturation initiative aimed at dominating both digital and traditional media channels with urgent, compelling recruitment messages.”

Specifically, ICE wants the eventual contractor to find platforms with the highest potential for reaching recruits, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and X, according to the documents. The list also includes Hulu, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime, according to the documents.

The documents say ICE is looking for more than 42 million impressions in its target audience groups. Impressions are essentially how many times an advertisement is seen, in this case by a particular demographic. What ICE sees as “high-value audience segments” include former military and law enforcement personnel, legal professionals, and “Gen Z and early-career professionals,” the documents say.

The documents add ICE wants the contractor to use all manner of advertising tricks and practices to target these people, including “geofencing,” which involves selecting a geographic area and delivering advertisements to devices at the location, and “behavioral” practices.

ICE is trying to hire Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers, the part of ICE that deals with deportations; Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents, a section that often deals with serious organized crime; and attorneys and support staff, according to the documents.

The documents say each advertisement, be that a video, carousel, or story format, will need to be approved by ICE. It is unclear if any of the material might violate any of the social media platforms’ policies. YouTube, for example, previously removed advertisements from the Israeli government. ICE has already run some recruitment ads on social media, including one with Uncle Sam branding that says “America Needs You.” The ad mentions a $50,000 signup bonus, $60,000 student repayment, and other benefits. 

Notably, the documents say that ICE is seeking to provide the contract to a woman-owned small business: “federal contracting officers may set aside contracts (or orders) for WOSBs [Women Owned Small Businesses] in industries in which the SBA [Small Business Administration] determines that WOSBs are historically underrepresented in federal procurement. The SBA has recognized that WOSB are historically underrepresented,” the RFI reads. The Trump administration has for the most part attempted to end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across the board. Critics have also pointed out that ICE is offering new recruits student loan forgiveness, another policy that the Trump administration has tried to end across the government.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Morale is reportedly low inside ICE, according to a July report in which The Atlantic spoke to a dozen current and former ICE agents and officers. “It’s miserable,” one career ICE official told the outlet. One veteran agent reportedly said that ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which traditionally deals with drug traffickers or child sexual abusers, are not taking on new cases so there is more time to make immigration-related arrests. “It’s infuriating,” the person said, adding that they are thinking about quitting rather than “arresting gardeners.”

Earlier this year Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, gave ICE a quota of 3,000 arrests a day. After that, ICE agents descended onto Los Angeles, targeting Home Depots and other broad locations, triggering massive protests against the agency and its tactics. After ICE received its new budget, border czar Tom Homan floated that the agency needs to arrest 7,000 people a day.

But on Sunday Politico reported the administration has claimed in court that no such quota exists. “DHS has confirmed that neither ICE leadership nor its field offices have been directed to meet any numerical quota or target for arrests, detentions, removals, field encounters, or any other operational activities that ICE or its components undertake in the course of enforcing federal immigration law,” a government attorney said.

Last week, ICE said it had made 1,000 “tentative” job offers since July 4.