U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing to launch a massive digital and streaming media ad campaign to recruit over 14,000 new personnel, targeting platforms popular with Gen Z like Hulu, HBO Max, YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram, according to federal contracting documents.
The agency recently posted a Request for Information (RFI) seeking an advertising partner capable of launching an immediate and large-scale recruitment drive. The goal is to “dominate digital and traditional media channels” with urgent and persuasive messaging aimed at “high-value audience segments,” including former military and law enforcement, legal professionals, and young early-career workers.
ICE aims to generate more than 42 million impressions through this blitz and is turning to advertising strategies like geofencing (targeting users by location) and behavioral profiling to reach ideal candidates. Streaming services like Amazon Prime, along with social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter), are part of the campaign plan.
This push follows ICE’s receipt of a multibillion-dollar budget increase, part of a broader expansion that includes building migrant tent camps nationwide. If successful, the recruitment campaign could nearly double ICE’s workforce.
Tension Inside and Outside ICE
The agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and legal/support roles are all part of the hiring focus. ICE is also emphasizing diversity by aiming to award the advertising contract to a woman-owned small business, despite recent federal efforts to roll back diversity and inclusion programs.
Critics have pointed out contradictions in ICE’s strategy. The ads promise $50,000 sign-on bonuses, $60,000 student loan repayment, and more — benefits that contrast sharply with the Trump administration’s stance against student loan forgiveness and DEI policies.
Internally, morale appears low. According to a July report in The Atlantic, some ICE agents have grown disillusioned, with one officer calling the work “miserable.” Others expressed frustration that HSI units, which once focused on crimes like drug trafficking and child abuse, are now pivoting toward immigration arrests.
Earlier this year, former White House adviser Stephen Miller reportedly gave ICE a daily arrest quota of 3,000 — though the government now denies such a quota exists. Still, large-scale raids in cities like Los Angeles sparked public backlash and protests.
Despite the controversy, ICE announced last week it has already made 1,000 tentative job offers since July 4.
ICE has not commented publicly on the new recruitment campaign.
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