On Tuesday, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched an internal 30-day pilot programme offering bonuses to agents for deporting immigrants quickly—₹200 for deportations within seven days and ₹100 for those within two weeks. The cash rewards aimed to reduce backlogs and cut detention costs amid mounting pressure to hit President Trump’s mass deportation targets. But less than four hours later, ICE abruptly cancelled the initiative following media inquiries, the New York Times reported
Agency denies authorization, distances from bonus plan
The reversal came after The New York Times sought comment on the program. In a follow-up email, ICE’s Liana Castano instructed agents to “PLEASE DISREGARD” the earlier memo. A US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson later said the plan had not been authorized by agency leadership and insisted no such policy was ever formally adopted. Despite the swift denial, the brief rollout underscored the urgency driving Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Trump’s immigration push brings rapid changes to ICE
The incentive scheme, though short-lived, fits within Trump’s broader agenda to overhaul ICE into a more aggressive deportation force. His domestic policy bill, signed last month, boosts ICE’s budget from $8 billion to $28 billion, making it the largest funded law enforcement agency in the U.S. Administration officials, including top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, have publicly encouraged Americans to join ICE and participate in what they frame as a patriotic mission.
Thousands of new hires, rising deportation pace
As part of this transformation, ICE is hiring up to 10,000 new agents, offering $50,000 signing and retention bonuses. The agency said last week it had issued over 1,000 tentative job offers. Deportation activity is also surging—ICE removals averaged nearly 1,300 per day in late July, compared to under 800 per day during the final year of the Biden administration, according to new data from the Deportation Data Project.
Experts warn of rights violations under rushed removals
Immigration experts criticized the bonus scheme, saying financial incentives could jeopardize immigrants' due process rights by encouraging agents to cut corners. “You can’t incentivize government agents to short-circuit people’s procedural rights,” said Scott Shuchart, a former Homeland Security official. Legal analysts fear this aggressive approach, including the use of fast-track deportations, undermines fair treatment of individuals arrested for immigration violations.
ICE’s evolving tactics raise ethical and legal questions
While the bonus program was scrapped, analysts believe it reflects ICE’s trial-and-error approach under Trump’s leadership, testing strategies to accelerate removals. ICE has already increased use of “expedited removal,” a process that skips court hearings. Critics warn this, combined with incentives like bonuses, could make the immigration system more punitive and less transparent. The failed pilot has now become a symbol of the administration’s high-speed, high-stakes effort to reshape U.S. immigration enforcement.
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