SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 1.17.2026
Fascism on the rise in America. Department of Homeland Security. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security
State sanctioned terrorists.
Now that convicted Felon turned President has been unleashed, again, for a year he has turned loose his version of State sanctioned domestic terrorists on the immigrant population and citizens exercising their Constitutional rights.
Who are these well paid mercenary thugs? Deutsche Welle takes a deep look.
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle – 1.17.2026
Donald Trump’s second presidential term has seen a rapid rise in the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. But who are these people, and where is the US government finding them?
Once a relatively obscure branch of law enforcement, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have fast become the sharp point of Donald Trump’s mass deportation initiative.
Since Trump took office a year ago, the number of ICE agents has jumped from 10,000 to 22,000, thanks largely to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recruitment drive to sign up what they call “qualified patriotic Americans from across the country.”
The Trump administration said it deported 605,000 people between January 20 and December 10, 2025, and 1.9 million immigrants had “voluntarily self-deported.”
Such a significant upscaling of a branch of law enforcement is unusual — and unprecedented in the history of ICE, which was formed in 2002. The effort raises questions about screening and the suitability of candidates, of which DHS said there were 220,000 in the last year.
Training time cut as numbers rise
ICE training has been cut from 16 to eight weeks in the drive. The requirement to learn some Spanish, the language of most of the country’s unauthorized immigrants, has also been axed. ICE did not respond to a series of questions from DW on its recruitment.
Concerns about the training of agents and the perceived politicization of ICE have grown in the wake of the death of Renee Nicole Good, which has sparked countrywide protests across and lead to the resignation of a dozen federal prosecutors in the state of Minnesota on Wednesday.
Homeland Security
@DHSgov·
A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending. American Progress – John Gast
The advertising bill for what the DHS has described as a “wartime recruitment” drive in 2026 is $100 million (€86 million), according to a 30 page document seen by The Washington Post newspaper. The pace looks set to at least continue, given that Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” handed ICE a $170 billion budget over the next four years for border and interior enforcement.
https://www.dw.com/en/how-are-ice-agents-recruited-and-who-are-they/a-75506003
Lee's Perspective 