OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
12:35 PM – Wednesday, August 6, 2025
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is eliminating the age requirement for new hires and existing officers.
In a statement on Wednesday, the DHS, headed by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, made a significant update to their new recruitment campaign for ICE, which was launched last week.
Until now, applicants were required to be at least 21 years of age. However, as part of the recruitment campaign, the upper age limitations will be lifted, and individuals can begin applying at the age of 18.
In addition, individuals over the age of 37 will not be referred for the position of criminal investigators, and individuals over the age of 40 will not be recommended for the position of deportation officer. The only people who may be exempt from the age restrictions are “preference-eligible veterans.”
| Prior Policy | New Policy |
| 21 minimum age | 18 minimum age |
| Max age: 37 or 40 (role‑specific) | No upper age limit |
Also included in the incentive package, “backed by significant new funding through the recently signed One Big Beautiful Bill,” is as follows:
- A maximum $50,000 signing bonus
- Student loan repayment and forgiveness options
- 25% Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP) for HSI Special Agents
- Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUI) for Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) Deportation Officers
- Enhanced retirement benefits
Secretary Noem gave an interview on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday, touting the success of the new incentives.
“Our recruitment efforts to hire 10,000 new ICE officers has been extremely successful [so far],” Noem observed. “As of today, we have over 80,000 applicants for those 10,000 positions already.”
Noem praised the 80,000 applicants as “people and patriots across this country that say, ‘we want to join, we want to help and be a part of this effort.’”
“It’s overwhelming to see the amount of response that our ICE officers have gotten and people who want to join their ranks,” she added.
Additionally, the press release from the DHS office blames “Biden’s open borders disaster” for the need for “dedicated Americans to join ICE to remove the worst of the worst out of our country.”
Applicants may find more information at join.ice.gov.
An iconic image of Uncle Sam, featuring an “America Needs You” caption, is displayed on the agency’s official website.
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