Trump’s Expanded ICE Force and GOP Tax–Spending Law Drive Nationwide Interior Enforcement Campaign
The administration has sharply expanded ICE into roughly a 22,000‑officer force — financed by billions in the recent GOP tax‑and‑spending bill, including $50,000 hiring bonuses — and is shifting enforcement from the border into interior cities through joint federal‑state operations and high‑profile, sometimes militarized raids. That campaign, which DHS says includes more than 1,360 active ICE detainers in Minnesota and which some officials portray as resulting in thousands of arrests, has provoked local backlash (Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called the surge “not about safety” but “terrorizing people”), raised political and legal concerns, and even prompted revived threats to invoke the Insurrection Act.
📌 Key Facts
- A recent Republican tax-and-spending package provided billions in new enforcement funding that 'supercharged' ICE—money that was not widely understood when the bill passed—and financed $50,000 hiring bonuses as the agency expanded to about 22,000 officers, making ICE larger than most U.S. police departments.
- With illegal border crossings at historic lows, DHS and ICE are shifting enforcement from the border into interior cities through joint operations with federal, state and local police under DHS contracts.
- DHS publicly says ICE currently has more than 1,360 active arrest detainers lodged against 'criminal illegal aliens' in Minnesota jails and has urged Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to honor them.
- DHS Secretary Kristi Noem (per reporting) claimed federal agents have arrested 'over 10,000 criminal illegal aliens' in Minneapolis in recent months and directly accused Walz and Frey of 'refus[ing] to protect their own people' and 'protect[ing] criminals.'
- Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey responded on CBS's 'Face the Nation' that the federal surge is 'not about safety' but about 'terrorizing people' because they are Latino or Somali.
- Reporting links the Minneapolis shooting death of Renee Good and high-profile, militarized ICE raids in multiple cities to the new funding stream, and notes President Trump has revived threats to invoke the Insurrection Act with 1,500 Army soldiers reportedly on standby.
- Public reaction is mixed: AP–NORC polling shows Trump’s immigration-approval ratings slipping as enforcement ramps up, and Rep. Nydia Velázquez is quoted saying Americans 'didn't sign on for this.'
📰 Source Timeline (4)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
January 20, 2026
7:04 PM
Trump's ICE force is sweeping America. Billions in his tax and spending cuts bill are paying for it
New information:
- Confirms ICE ranks have swollen to about 22,000 officers, making it larger than most U.S. police departments, with $50,000 hiring bonuses financed by the GOP tax-and-spending cuts bill.
- Details that the same Republican tax-and-spending package is 'supercharging ICE' with billions in new enforcement money that was not widely understood by the public when it passed.
- Links the Minneapolis shooting death of Renee Good and highly visible, militarized ICE raids in multiple cities to this new funding stream, and notes Trump has revived threats to invoke the Insurrection Act with 1,500 Army soldiers on standby.
- Reports that illegal border crossings are at historic lows, shifting enforcement from the border into interior cities through joint operations with federal, state and local police under DHS contracts.
- Notes AP–NORC polling showing Trump’s immigration-approval ratings slipping even as enforcement ramps up, and quotes Rep. Nydia Velázquez saying Americans 'didn't sign on for this.'
January 19, 2026
7:29 PM
Noem hammers Walz, Frey for ignoring 1,360 ICE detainers for criminal illegal aliens
New information:
- DHS Secretary Kristi Noem now claims federal agents have arrested 'over 10,000 criminal illegal aliens' in Minneapolis in recent months.
- DHS publicly states that ICE currently has more than 1,360 active arrest detainers lodged against 'criminal illegal aliens' in Minnesota jails and urges Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey to honor them.
- Noem directly accuses Walz and Frey of 'refus[ing] to protect their own people' and 'protect[ing] criminals' in a new X post, escalating rhetoric beyond prior DHS summaries of specific arrests.
- Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, in a CBS 'Face the Nation' appearance, responds that the federal surge is 'not about safety' but about 'terrorizing people' because they are Latino or Somali.
January 18, 2026
January 13, 2026