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How do ICE agent total compensation packages compare to other federal law enforcement agencies like CBP and FBI?
Executive summary
Available reporting shows ICE has seen large new appropriations and hiring money in 2025 that make it — by some accounts — the most-funded federal law‑enforcement component in recent history, and that Congress also directed bonuses and special pay treatments for ICE and CBP personnel during a 2025 shutdown (examples: $10,000 yearly bonuses, and “super checks”) [1] [2] [3]. Detailed, side‑by‑side total‑compensation tables (base pay + locality + overtime + bonuses + benefits) comparing ICE, CBP and the FBI are not found in the current reporting; available sources describe budgets, hiring drives and bonuses rather than full tabulated compensation packages (not found in current reporting).
1. Big budgets changed the landscape: ICE’s funding surge and the claim it now rivals or exceeds other agencies
Congressional and advocacy reporting documents a major 2025 funding increase for immigration enforcement: reporting cites roughly $75 billion over four years for ICE (about $18.7 billion per year) added to ICE’s prior FY2025 appropriation, producing claims that ICE will be the highest‑funded federal law‑enforcement agency in history and may now have more money than several other agencies combined [1]. The Brennan Center and quoted observers framed this as an “explosion” in resources for ICE relative to prior years [1].
2. Bonuses and shutdown pay highlight differences in near‑term cash to frontline officers
News outlets report concrete pay actions that affected ICE and CBP in 2025: existing ICE and CBP agents were slated to receive $10,000 yearly bonuses for four years, and during the October 2025 shutdown certain DHS law‑enforcement personnel — including ICE and CBP — received a “super check” to cover the current pay cycle and overtime; Business Insider and Newsweek attribute the funds to recent legislation and DHS plans [2] [3]. Reuters also reported that the administration said more than 70,000 DHS law‑enforcement officers — including ICE and CBP — would be paid during the shutdown, though reporting noted questions about which accounts would fund that pay [4].
3. Budget size ≠ identical individual compensation; sources emphasize appropriations and hiring rather than pay schedules
Available materials in the set focus on appropriations levels, hiring goals, detention‑bed funding, and broad bonus programs rather than on complete, comparable total‑compensation packages (base pay grades, locality pay, overtime averages, retirement and health benefits) for ICE vs. CBP vs. FBI. Congressional summaries and DHS budget documents map where money flows (e.g., CBP and TSA receive significant fee offsets; ICE has more modest offsetting collections), but they do not provide a direct per‑agent total‑compensation comparison [5] [6]. Therefore, definitive numerical comparisons of total compensation per agent across agencies are not available in the supplied reporting (not found in current reporting).
4. Institutional context matters: mission, hiring goals, and funding sources differ
ICE, CBP and the FBI have different missions, workforce mixes, and funding mechanisms that affect compensation dynamics. Sources note CBP gets substantial fee‑related funding and large staffing investments tied to border operations; ICE funding increases were explicitly tied to detention beds, deportation operations and hiring 10,000 new officers per some analyses [5] [1] [6]. The FBI, while historically large and well‑resourced, is not the focus of these 2025 appropriations stories in the provided set, which centers on DHS components [1]. Those structural differences limit simple apples‑to‑apples pay comparisons (not found in current reporting).
5. Critiques and alternative perspectives in the record
Advocacy groups and some commentators framed the 2025 funding as creating a “deportation‑industrial complex” and warned that rapid hiring and expansion could increase abuses or corruption risk, citing historical problems with accelerated CBP recruitment and linking budget increases to diminished attention for court and fair‑process capacity [1]. Conversely, administration and DHS statements (reported in Reuters and Business Insider) framed the pay and hiring moves as necessary to sustain border security operations and to ensure critical staff are paid during a shutdown [4] [3]. Both perspectives appear in the reporting, and the sources highlight political and policy motives behind funding choices [1] [4].
6. What the sources don’t provide and how to fill the gap
The supplied sources do not include a published, itemized total‑compensation comparison (base salary ranges by grade, average overtime, locality pay, bonuses, and benefit valuation) for ICE versus CBP and FBI personnel (not found in current reporting). To produce a rigorous comparison, you would need recent agency pay tables, average overtime and bonus disbursement data, locality pay factors, and benefit valuation (retirement, health insurance) from agency human‑resources or OPM publications — none of which appear in the provided documents (not found in current reporting).
Bottom line: Reporting in this set documents major increases in ICE funding and concrete bonus/pay actions for ICE and CBP in 2025 that changed how much money those agencies have for personnel and operations [1] [2] [3], but it does not offer the granular, side‑by‑side total‑compensation breakdown needed to conclusively say how an average ICE agent’s total package compares to an average CBP or FBI officer’s total package (not found in current reporting).