Immigration and Customs Enforcement is preparing to hire 5,000 additional employees by the end of the year as part of efforts to bolster its deportation operations.

The planned surge would increase the agency's workforce by around 17 percent and draw on new funding allocated by Congress. The agency had already grown significantly since the start of the second Trump administration, adding about 8,000 employees to reach 29,000 by July.

Most of the new recruits are expected to serve as deportation officers involved in arrests and case management. This follows a prior hiring push that brought on nearly 12,000 full-time employees in the first year and a half of the administration, more than the previous decade combined.

The expansion comes as ICE has ramped up enforcement activities with support from over $100 billion in congressional funding. Officials have described the latest efforts as tied to the new appropriations rather than responses to prior attrition.

Earlier hiring waves faced challenges, including record numbers of departures in the first half of 2026, with nearly 3,000 employees leaving the agency. The Department of Homeland Security has indicated that stricter vetting standards will apply to the new round of applicants.

ICE has received hundreds of thousands of applications in recent recruitment drives, aided by signing bonuses and other incentives. The agency continues to prioritize staffing increases to meet enforcement priorities.