How are ICE employees evaluated and compensated—do bonuses depend on arrests or removals?
Executive summary
ICE’s public pay structure relies on federal salary schedules, hiring incentives (signing bonuses, LEAP, overtime) and program reimbursements rather than routine “per‑arrest” bonuses for its employees — though recent 2025 reporting shows the agency briefly proposed cash bonuses tied to rapid removals and later rescinded that pilot (WLRN) [1]. Separately, DHS expanded reimbursements and quarterly bonuses for state and local officers working with ICE under 287(g), including payments up to $1,000 per officer per quarter tied to immigration‑arrest performance (Newsweek, DHS, multiple outlets) [2] [3] [4].
1. How ICE employees are paid: federal pay, law‑enforcement differentials, and hiring incentives
ICE staff are federal employees paid under standard U.S. government salary systems with supplements for law‑enforcement work. ICE has offered large hiring incentives — including signing bonuses up to $50,000, student‑loan repayment and law‑enforcement differentials such as Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP) and Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUI) — as part of a 2025 recruitment push to add thousands of officers (DHS and Federal News Network reporting) [5] [6] [7]. ICE’s FY26 budget justification also specifically allocates large sums for enforcement, detention and removal operations, reflecting a pay and operations expansion [8].
2. Bonuses tied to arrests or removals — what the reporting shows
Mainstream sources show two distinct practices: internal ICE proposals and separate DHS/287(g) reimbursements. A WLRN story and New York Times reporting documented an internal ICE memo proposing cash bonuses for deportations — $200 for removals within seven days and $100 for removals within 14 days — but ICE canceled that 30‑day pilot within hours of announcing it [1]. Separately, DHS announced reimbursement programs that include quarterly performance bonuses of $500–$1,000 per officer for state and local law enforcement participating in 287(g) partnerships, explicitly tied to percentages of ICE‑directed immigration arrests (Newsweek, DHS, San) [2] [3] [4].
3. Distinctions inside ICE: federal agents vs. local partners
ICE’s workforce includes its own Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents; ICE’s internal pay differentials and hiring bonuses apply to agency hires [9] [10]. The cash or quarterly “arrest‑based” incentives reported in 2025 largely target external partners and participation programs — the DHS reimbursement scheme for 287(g) agencies and local police bonuses — rather than long‑standing, routine pay for ICE career staff [3] [4] [2].
4. Agency justification and operational context
ICE and DHS frame incentives as tools to expand capacity for removals and to recruit staff amid a large increase in enforcement tempo; ICE’s public statistics show arrests and removals surged in 2025, and DHS budget documents allocate major sums to enforcement and removal operations [11] [8] [12]. Internal memos and rapid reversals — such as the rescinded ICE cash bonus pilot — indicate operational urgency but also sensitivity to public and legal scrutiny [1].
5. Criticisms, legal and ethical questions in reporting
News outlets and watchdogs highlight concerns: performance‑linked pay for arrests or removals can create perverse incentives to prioritize quantity over legal process and may encourage aggressive tactics that ensnare people without criminal records (The New York Times, The Guardian, Axios) [13] [14] [11]. Courts have also reined in certain ICE practices, such as warrantless interior arrests in at least one jurisdiction — a reminder that operational incentives interact with constitutional and statutory limits [15].
6. What sources do not say
Available sources do not provide a comprehensive, published ICE internal pay manual showing routine direct piece‑rate bonuses for arrests or removals for all ICE employees; instead, reporting documents targeted incentives (signing bonuses, LEAP, AUI) and one rescinded pilot tying cash to rapid removals, plus DHS reimbursement/bonuses for partner agencies [1] [5] [3]. Internal performance review criteria for agency promotions and evaluations are not detailed in these items; ICE’s public budget and statistics discuss operational goals but do not publish a permanent “per‑arrest” bonus policy for career ICE agents [8] [12].
7. Bottom line for readers
Federal pay for ICE employees follows standard government salary systems with law‑enforcement differentials and significant hiring incentives; targeted, time‑limited or partner‑focused bonuses tied to arrests or removals have been proposed and in some cases implemented for outside law enforcement, and a widely reported internal ICE memo proposing cash bonuses for quick deportations was quickly withdrawn [5] [3] [1]. The combination of expanded funding, recruitment bonuses, partner reimbursements, rising arrest rates and legal pushback frames a contentious policy debate about whether monetary incentives change enforcement behavior [8] [11] [15].