Fact check: What is the average age of ICE agents by ethnicity in 2025?

1. Why the Exact 2025 Ethnicity-by-Age Average for ICE Agents Cannot Be Produced — The Missing Data Problem

All supplied sources either omit the required measure or do not publish ICE-specific age means disaggregated by ethnicity for 2025. One source is a subscription-only staffing chart that might contain detailed data but is inaccessible here, and two federal-level reports describe age and racial composition in aggregate for DHS or the broader federal workforce without calculating an average age by ethnicity for ICE in 2025 ^{[3] [1] [2]}. The DHS EEO management and workforce composition materials included in the packet cover percentages in age bands and ethnicity categories through FY 2023 and FY 2024, but they stop short of providing a 2025 ICE-specific mean age stratified by race — leaving a direct answer unsupported by the documentation provided ^{[4] [5]}.

2. What the Available Sources Do Tell Us — Workforce Age Structure and Racial Composition Context

Federal workforce analyses in the packet indicate an older workforce overall and a majority-white composition across many federal agencies, which is informative though not decisive for ICE-specific averages. For example, a 2024 federal workforce profile noted that a large share of federal employees were over 50, and other DHS materials list percentages by age band and ethnicity as of FY 2023 and FY 2024, showing age-band distributions and racial/ethnic shares rather than mean ages by subgroup ^{[2] [4] [5]}. These patterns suggest that any ICE mean age for 2025 could be influenced by an older cohort of long-tenured employees and a race/ethnicity mix similar to DHS-wide patterns, but they do not provide the numerical, ethnicity-specific averages requested ^{[1] [5]}.

3. How Analysts Typically Derive Ethnicity-by-Age Means — Why Access Matters

Calculating an average age by ethnicity requires microdata or tables cross-tabulating age and race for the specific agency and year; public reports that give only age bands and separate ethnicity shares prevent exact mean computation. The subscription staffing chart referenced could plausibly contain cross-tabulated personnel records enabling that calculation, which is why paywalled datasets often determine whether precise subgroup statistics are publicly answerable ^[3]. Without access to ICE’s internal HR cross-tabs or a FOIA release that delivers age-by-race records for 2025, any mean would be an estimate extrapolated from incomplete aggregates and subject to error ^{[1] [4]}.

4. Reconciling Different Sources and Flags for Potential Bias or Agenda

The packet includes both independent labor-market summaries and official DHS materials; each type has different potential agendas. Independent summaries may emphasize diversity metrics and trends to highlight workforce issues, while DHS EEO publications present official counts and percentages for compliance and reporting purposes, which can understate nuances like within-category age variation. Researchers must treat the subscription staffing chart and DHS EEO tables as complementary but not interchangeable: the former may have granular internal records, the latter provides vetted public totals, and neither included in this packet supplies the 2025 ethnicity-by-age means requested ^{[1] [3] [4] [5]}.

5. Practical Next Steps to Obtain a Definitive Answer for 2025

To produce a verifiable average age of ICE agents by ethnicity for 2025, requesters should pursue one of three paths: obtain the paywalled ICE staffing dataset or subscription product that may contain cross-tabulated records, file a targeted FOIA request to ICE or DHS for age-by-ethnicity personnel counts for calendar or fiscal 2025, or locate a public DHS/EEO statistical table that explicitly publishes mean ages by race for component agencies. Each approach will yield the specific cross-tabulations necessary for an exact mean, while relying on the aggregate summaries in the packet will only support circumstantial inferences ^{[3] [4] [5]}.