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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is targeting NYPD officers for recruitment following Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the race for New York City’s top job.
Since Mamdani’s victory, the agency has posted three times on X specifically trying to recruit NYPD officers, indicating a focus on the city’s law enforcement personnel.
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"ICE ads have been airing since late July in a nationwide campaign. These ads run in rotation across key target cities, including New York City. It should be no surprise we are recruiting Americans with law enforcement experience—including the NYPD—to join ICE," Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for DHS, told Newsweek.
Scott Mechkowski, a retired ICE agent, told Newsweek that the agency may be aiming to strengthen its workforce with officers who have local experience.
"They’re hoping that a mass exodus will happen. What better way of beefing up your rosters with people who operated in the area for years?"
Newsweek has contacted the Mamdani campaign and the NYPD for comment via email.
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Why It Matters
DHS has launched a nationwide recruitment effort to bolster the ranks of ICE, citing the need for additional personnel to handle enforcement and deportation operations.
What To Know
McLaughlin said that ICE has received over 200,000 applications from Americans interested in joining the agency, and that more than 18,000 tentative job offers have already been issued. To attract candidates, the agency is offering a range of incentives, including signing bonuses of up to $50,000 and student loan repayment programs.
On November 7, ICE wrote in a post on X calling for New York law enforcement to "work for a President and a Secretary who support and defend law enforcement—not defund or demonize it."
ICE’s outreach appears to allude to Mamdani’s past criticisms of the police, including his previous support for reducing NYPD funding. In June 2020, Mamdani wrote on X: "We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD."
He has since backed away from this position and confirmed that he no longer supports defunding the NYPD.
"I am not defunding the police," Mamdani told reporters at a press conference in July.
Mamdani campaigned on universal child care, free bus rides, rent freezes, and other affordability measures, appealing to working families, while pledging legal support and sanctuary-style protections for immigrants. President Donald Trump’s administration has vowed to crack down on sanctuary cities with funding threats and increased ICE enforcement as they look to carry out mass deportations.
The "One Big Beautiful Bill" (OBBB), signed into law earlier this year by President Trump, supercharged funding for immigration enforcement agencies, including ICE and DHS. The legislation allocates $45 billion to increase ICE’s detention capacity to nearly 100,000 beds, $14 billion for transportation and removal operations, and $8 billion to hire 10,000 new deportation officers. It also provides additional billions for state and local cooperation programs, technology upgrades, and retention incentives for ICE personnel.
The OBBB provides an additional $75 billion for ICE over four years, a major increase from its previous annual budget of around $10 billion, bringing total funding to over $100 billion by FY 2029. The bill is expected to support hiring 10,000 new ICE agents over the next five years. As of mid-2025, ICE has roughly 20,000 personnel, including fewer than 6,000 in its Enforcement and Removal Operations branch.
In a bid to bolster the pool of potential recruits, DHS has eliminated the age cap for new applicants, now allowing individuals as young as 18 to apply. Previously, applicants had to be between 21 and 37 or 40, depending on the position.
What People Are Saying
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek: "Incentive processing—including for signing bonuses—will continue during the government shutdown for all Americans who are eligible for the signing bonuses as part of our ICE recruitment efforts."
Retired ICE agent Scott Mechkowski told Newsweek: "I would not read into this as a fight against the new Mayor but optically it looks like that."
ICE wrote in a post on X on November 6: "NYPD OFFICERS: Join an agency that respects you, your family, and your commitment to serving in law enforcement."
In a follow-up post on November 10, the agency wrote, "NYPD OFFICERS: Defend your family. Defend your city. Defend the Homeland."
What Happens Next
ICE is likely to continue its recruitment efforts in New York and other major cities, promoting incentives and highlighting opportunities for officers with local law enforcement experience.
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