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What is the 2025 pay scale and GS grade for ICE deportation officers (Enforcement and Removal Operations)?
Executive summary
The pay for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) deportation officers in 2025 is reported in job postings and media as ranging from roughly $49,739 to $89,528 for new hires, with returns/experienced hires and varying data sources showing higher averages up to and above $90,000; ICE’s vacancy announcements also advertise large signing/retention bonuses (up to $50,000) and overtime/benefit enhancements [1] [2] [3]. Federal pay for law enforcement officers is governed by the General Schedule (GS) and a separate LEO (Law Enforcement Officer) pay table/locality adjustments; GS grades and locality pay determine final salary, and OPM’s 2025 LEO/GS tables apply to these roles [4] [5].
1. What ICE publicly lists for “deportation officer” pay and bonuses — the direct numbers
ICE job postings and major media cite a starting salary band for new deportation officers in 2025 of about $49,739 to $89,528 per year; the BBC reported that range when covering ICE’s recruitment push [1]. USAJOBS vacancy announcements from ICE advertise the position as entry-level, highlight up to $50,000 in signing and retention bonuses, and describe the role’s training and fitness requirements — those job pages are the agency’s active recruitment documents [2] [6]. Snopes reviewed these claims and concluded that for new, non‑returning deportation officers the salary band started at $49,739 and went up to $89,528 as of mid‑2025 [3].
2. Official pay system that determines final salary: GS, LEO tables and locality pay
Federal law enforcement pay is not a single flat number: the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) administers the General Schedule and separate Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) pay tables. OPM’s 2025 guidance states that LEOs covered by LEO tables (and GS law‑enforcement positions at GS‑3 through GS‑10) receive higher locality‑adjusted rates, and agencies must apply the higher applicable special rate when present [4] [5]. In practice this means an ICE deportation officer’s listed grade and step on the vacancy announcement, plus the employee’s duty‑station locality adjustment, determine the actual paycheck [4] [5].
3. What grade (GS/LEO) would a deportation officer typically be assigned?
Available sources do not give a single, explicit GS grade tied to every ERO deportation officer posting; however, federal guidance explains agencies classify jobs by difficulty, responsibility and qualifications and that law enforcement positions fall into the GS/LEO structure [7]. Multiple reporting and vacancy pages for ICE’s 2025 hiring describe the job as “entry‑level” and tie pay to GS/LEO ranges discussed above, but the exact grade (for example GS‑7 vs GS‑9) depends on the specific announcement and candidate qualifications — vacancy announcements on USAJOBS should list the advertised grade/step [2] [7].
4. Third‑party salary estimates and their differences
Commercial salary aggregators produced a wide range of numbers in 2025: Glassdoor’s crowd‑reported figures show a typical ICE deportation officer pay range between roughly $59k and $103k annually and give averages in the $77k–$91k area depending on the dataset [8] [9]. Salary.com and ZipRecruiter report different averages — Salary.com listed an average around $93,906 (Nov 2025) while ZipRecruiter’s hourly conversions yielded lower median/percentile ranges — reflecting variation by geography, experience, and methodology [10] [8] [11] [12]. These private aggregators mix base pay, locality, overtime, bonuses and self‑reported data, which explains discrepancies [8] [11].
5. Why numbers vary — overtime, bonuses, “returning employees,” and locality
Reporting and ICE materials make three points that inflate headline pay relative to basic GS/LEO wages: (a) large one‑time signing/retention bonuses (up to $50,000) are being offered for recruitment [2] [6]; (b) ICE and DHS highlight Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUI) or potentially heavy overtime for ERO deportation officers which can substantially boost total annual pay beyond base salary [13] [14]; and (c) former ICE employees or experienced hires can receive higher advertised pay bands (and some announcements or reporting reference much higher top‑end salaries for returning/experienced officers) [3] [1].
6. How to find the authoritative figure for your situation
To determine the exact GS grade, step, and locality‑adjusted pay for a particular posting or duty station, refer to the specific ICE USAJOBS vacancy announcement (it will list grade/step and pay information) and cross‑check the OPM 2025 GS/LEO pay tables and locality tables to compute the pay [2] [4] [5]. OPM’s public 2025 LEO and GS locality tables are the controlling references for final pay calculations [4] [5].
Limitations: reporting sources and aggregators use different methods (self‑reported salaries, bonus inclusion, or job postings). Available sources do not provide a single universal GS grade that applies to every ERO deportation officer posting — that grade varies by announcement and qualifications [7] [2].