ORLANDO, Fla. – Law enforcement agencies across Central Florida are facing a new challenge amid widespread understaffing. Federal immigration enforcement agency ICE has begun recruiting deputies and police officers from Florida departments to join its newly expanded force.
The move comes as ICE undergoes a major expansion, aiming to hire about 10,000 new agents. The agency is specifically targeting candidates with current or former law enforcement or military experience.
ICE is offering a maximum $50,000 signing bonus, student loan repayment and forgiveness options and other incentives to get people to sign up.
The ICE careers website highlights a “work-life balance” and offers up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave, plus benefits like a worksite lactation program and help with child care referrals.
However, many sheriff’s offices and police departments in Central Florida are also actively hiring due to significant staffing shortages. Many county sheriff’s office programs offer their own smaller signing bonuses, plus the state offers a $5,000 signing bonus.
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Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood told News 6 says his deputies who have gone through the training and fit the 21 to 39 age range have received the recruitment emails.
“There’s more to policing than immigration,” Chitwood said. “There’s school safety, there’s violent crime, there’s traffic, there’s drug dealing, there’s fraud that’s massive in my county anyway. By doing this, you’re weakening the core mission of municipal, county and state law enforcement.”
[WATCH: Volusia jail staff, officers to receive ICE training for detaining undocumented individuals]
The federal recruitment effort has complicated these efforts, prompting concern from state leadership.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed the issue Friday, expressing worries about ICE “poaching” officers from already stretched-thin local agencies.
“I know some sheriffs have had concerns that that’s happening, because ‘hey, we’ve been doing all this stuff to help you guys and you’re trying to poach our people who are already in the fight,’” DeSantis said. “Why not recruit additional people to supplement that instead of just kind of displacing?”
The governor’s comments highlight the tension between local law enforcement’s needs and federal immigration enforcement priorities. Florida agencies have long been required to cooperate with ICE, but the new recruitment push raises questions about the impact on local public safety.
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“The part that really frustrates me is there isn’t another state in this country that has done everything they can to comply with ICE,” Chitwood said.
“The governor issued an executive order mandating that every law enforcement agency participates,” Chitwood said. “And the thanks you get is they rub it in your face and tell you it’s raining, and they tell you now, ‘we’re gonna take your employees.’”
ICE’s recent budget increase has fueled its hiring surge, intensifying competition for qualified officers and deputies in Florida.