Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke on Thursday with Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck about the current phase of the administration’s deportations as well as about the Department of Homeland Security’s successful new recruitment campaign.
Noem emphasized that while there are opportunities for patriots to directly help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement round up criminal noncitizens, it is essential that “hardworking, everyday Americans” assist by publicly signaling their support for ICE — especially in the face of mounting attacks on federal agents.
President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocates $76.5 billion to ICE. Roughly $30 billion of the funds are intended for the recruitment of 10,000 more staff so that the agency can achieve 1 million annual deportations.
‘That almost gives them permission to go out there and take action against these individuals.’
To fill some of these roles, the DHS launched an ICE recruitment campaign last week offering eligible applicants a maximum $50,000 signing bonus, student loan repayment, and other perks. On Wednesday, the agency announced it was also waiving age limits “so even more patriots will qualify to join ICE.”
Noem told Beck, “We already have over 80,000 applicants for those 10,000 positions, so we’re going through that and getting them through the process to see who qualifies.”
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Photo by DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
The secretary noted that the overwhelming interest demonstrates that the “American people stand with the rule of law, that they want to help, and they want to be a part of this” despite the demonization of ICE officers by “the media and the socialists.”
Nevertheless, she acknowledged that anti-ICE propaganda — including false claims of agents kidnapping people and Nazi affiliations — are impactful.
Responding to Beck’s suggestion that such propaganda sets the stage for attacks and obstruction, Noem noted that “we just got this morning the notification that attacks on ICE officers is up by over 1,000% than what it was six months ago.”
“Words have consequences,” continued Noem, referring to the rhetoric pushed by some politicians. “What you say matters. And the consequences of using dangerous language like that is that people take action on them. Anybody who has a tendency to be unstable or to be violent, that almost gives them permission to go out there and take action against these individuals.”
The DHS revealed last month that assaults on ICE agents between January 21 and July 14 were up 830% over the same period the year before.
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