Trump’s ICE Shift Pulls Federal Crime-Fighting Agents Into Deportation Drive

By Felicia J. Persaud

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Sept. 26, 2025: The Trump administration continues to claim its mass immigration and deportations are about “public safety.” But new data reveals a troubling truth: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (ICE), is actually pulling federal law enforcement agents – the very people tasked with investigating terrorism, gangs and violent crime – away from their real work to help deport immigrants on a massive scale.

ICE officers clash with demonstrators outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility using smoke gas and plastic bullets to disperse crowds protesting against deportations in Broadview, Illinois, United States on September 19, 2025. Several hundred protesters had gathered near the Broadview ICE center, chanting against immigration enforcement policies. (Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)

According to records obtained from ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), and shared with the Libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, ICE is currently receiving assistance from nearly 17,000 non-ERO agents, including 14,500 federal criminal law enforcement officers who should be focusing on criminal investigations. These include:

2,966 FBI agents who normally investigate terrorism, espionage, organized crime and civil rights violations.

2,374 Drug Enforcement Administration, (DEA), agents who fight drug trafficking and opioid smuggling.

1,671 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents who work on gun trafficking and violent crime cases.

2,023 U.S. Marshals who are responsible for capturing fugitives and protecting witnesses.

1,250 IRS-Criminal Investigation agents who prosecute major tax fraud and money laundering cases.

4,216 Homeland Security Investigations, (HSI), agents who handle human trafficking, child exploitation, and major smuggling operations.

Each one of these agents being reassigned means fewer criminal cases investigated and fewer of the real dangerous offenders brought to justice.

Deputizing Local Police As ICE Agents

The scope doesn’t end there. In a now-deleted post, the Department of Homeland Security revealed that ICE has already trained and unleashed 8,501 state and local police officers as part of its controversial 287(g) Task Force program. These officers are now authorized to independently conduct ICE arrests – essentially turning them into immigration agents in their own communities. DHS also admitted that more than 2,000 additional officers are currently in training.

This rapid expansion of ICE’s enforcement footprint means that immigrants – including long-time residents with deep community ties – face an unprecedented risk of arrest, detention and deportation – not because of criminal activity – but because of civil immigration violations. Seventy percent of people held in ICE detention – 58,766 as of September 7, 2025 – have no criminal conviction.

Public Safety Illusion

So, here’s the question: are we really safer?

ICE’s diversion of thousands of federal law enforcement agents to conduct civil immigration sweeps means fewer resources are left to investigate human trafficking rings, arrest fentanyl smugglers, track down fugitives, or stop violent criminals. As the Cato Institute points out, this is a dangerous misuse of government personnel and taxpayer funds.

Rather than targeting those who pose real threats, ICE and the DHS are using an ever-growing army of federal agents and deputized local police to round up workers, parents and community members whose only crime is an immigration violation. This may satisfy a political agenda, but it does nothing to protect we the tax paying Americans – and in many cases, it actively makes us all – whether red or blue – less safe.

Chilling Effect On Communities

The expanded 287(g) program should alarm every American. Giving local police the power to conduct ICE arrests destroys trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement. When immigrants fear that calling 911 could result in deportation, crimes go unreported, witnesses stay silent and dangerous offenders remain free. This doesn’t just endanger immigrants – it endangers entire neighborhoods.

The Bottom Line

Public safety is not improved when we trade criminal justice for deportation theater. Every FBI agent or DEA officer pulled off a criminal case to knock on someone’s door for ICE makes America less safe.

And here’s the irony: data show that White men commit the majority of public mass shootings – over half of these tragic events are perpetrated by white Americans, almost always male. Yet, these are not the people federal law enforcement is targeting with sweeping raids or racial profiling. Instead, ICE’s policies disproportionately affect immigrants and communities of color.

If “public safety” is truly the goal, then where is the proportional enforcement against those statistically likelier to commit mass public violence? Until we answer that, the public safety argument for ICE’s actions will continue to ring hollow – and the rest of us will keep paying the price.

Felicia J. Persaud is the founder and publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, the only daily newswire and digital platform dedicated exclusively to Caribbean Diaspora and Black immigrant news across the Americas.