Planet Money: "The ICE Hiring Boom"

NPR | February 25, 2026
Hosted by Waylon Wong and Darian Woods

Overview:

This episode examines the unprecedented hiring surge at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the ripple effects of this massive expansion, and the economic, social, and ethical considerations it brings. The hosts investigate changes in ICE recruitment and training, the impact on local economies—especially in rural communities hosting new detention centers—and the moral dilemmas faced by residents whose livelihoods become intertwined with the immigration enforcement system.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. ICE's Unprecedented Hiring Surge

[00:18–01:14]

• In 2025, ICE doubled its workforce, adding 12,000 agents and officers in a single year.
• Exceptional incentives included waiving age requirements and signing bonuses up to $50,000.
• “The majority of immigrants caught up in this crackdown have no criminal convictions. Many have legal status, and even U.S. citizens have been taken into custody.” (Darian Woods, 00:52)
• Public opinion is shifting: more Americans see the crackdown as excessive; growing calls for change or even ICE’s dismantling.

2. ICE Training: What’s Changed?

[02:56–09:05]

• Funding boost: $750 million from a new tax and spending law for Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers.
• Facilities are massive, with life-size city replicas for training.
• Trainer Mark Brown: Describes hands-on methods for handling protests and crowd safety.
  • “If they’re protesting on the sideline ... they have the right to protest your presence. ... Our biggest thing is keeping everybody safe.” (Mark Brown, 04:00)
• Contradictory reports on whether training is being shortened. DHS claims training hours are unchanged, but evidence shows otherwise:
  • Current ICE basic training lasts 14 weeks, down from previous durations and shorter than the national average for police.
  • Five weeks of Spanish instruction dropped in favor of unspecified translation services.
• Academic perspective (Matthew Ross, economist):
  • Concern that training reductions could have lasting negative effects.
    • “I think there’s a lot of reasons to be quite worried about what the long-term implications of that are going to look like.” (Matthew Ross, 05:27)
  • Field training influence: Recruits paired with aggressive officers become more forceful themselves.
    • “If you happen to get paired up with a field training officer that used force frequently, you were just more likely to use force for the entirety of that three-year period.” (Matthew Ross, 06:21)
• Steph Stoughton (law professor and ex-police):
  • Senior officers’ attitudes and instructions heavily shape agent behaviors.
    • “Doesn’t matter how you’re trained. If your supervisor says you run up to those cars ... that’s what you’re going to do.” (Steph Stoughton, 07:40)
  • Culture and accountability are as important as formal curriculum in shaping conduct.

3. Accountability and Systemic Issues

[08:13–09:05]

• Lawsuits expected over ICE tactics, but threat of legal settlements is unlikely to change agency behavior.
  • “The financial incentives alone probably aren’t going to do anything, especially not with an agency that just views that as the cost of doing business.” (Steph Stoughton, 08:30)
• Reports from ICE whistleblowers claim recruits are getting 250 fewer training hours now.

4. The Detention Center Boom—Economic and Moral Tradeoffs

[12:10–18:58]

• Detained immigrant population hits a record 71,000; administration aims for 93,000-bed capacity.

• Over $38 billion allocated for new detention centers, often in economically distressed small towns.

• Folkestone, Georgia—a Case Study:

  • Town of 5,000, mostly Black, high poverty rate—hosts one of the nation’s largest ICE centers.
  • Glenn Hall (former county administrator):
    • “We are supporting a major federal policy ... and we need a hospital, we need emergency medical care, we need dollars.” (Glenn Hall, 14:06)
  • Center expanded from 1,100 to 3,000 beds; 200 new jobs ($18–$50/hr), $1 million in local payments.
  • “If it’s not here, it’s somewhere else ... I hate to simplify that, because these are people’s lives and families, but that’s the reality of it.” (Glenn Hall, 15:51)

• Reporters witness detainees calling out for help, highlighting human costs.

  • “They ain’t treating us good out here.” (Unidentified detainee, 16:31)
  • Hall: “If I was detained behind barbed wire ... I would be only help, too, to somebody coming down a dirt road, no doubt. I mean, that’s ... the humanity side of this, right?” (Glenn Hall, 16:41)

• Resident perspective:

  • Savannah Pollock (local resident, activist):
    • Job security and benefits are major attractors for locals.
      • “It offers benefits. ... That’s one of the things the GEO Group offered...at least if they didn’t want to stay out there for long, it got them enough in their pocket to go somewhere else.” (Savannah Pollock, 17:36)
    • Yet, sees moral contradictions:
      • “Morally, I don’t think we should ever be tied to a system that hurts Black and Brown bodies ... These individuals haven’t committed a crime.” (Savannah Pollock, 18:14)
    • Notes that poverty makes ethical decisions a luxury some can't afford:
      • “When you’re in a poverty level, we’re just thinking about, how can I get money in my pocket?” (Savannah Pollock, 18:43)
  • Economic insecurity and political unpredictability (policies change with administrations) make reliance on detention centers risky.
  • Hall: “I’m hopeful that the prison will work itself out of a job ... that we close our borders and deport all the illegal immigrants.” (Glenn Hall, 19:18)

5. Future Outlook

[19:33–19:47]

• Up to 24 new ICE facilities are planned nationwide.
• Local economies benefit in the short-term, but ethical, social, and long-term economic concerns loom large.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The majority of immigrants caught up in this crackdown have no criminal convictions. Many have legal status, and even US citizens have been taken into custody.” — Darian Woods (00:52)
• “I think there’s a lot of reasons to be quite worried about what the long-term implications of that are going to look like.” — Matthew Ross (05:27)
• “Doesn’t matter how you’re trained. If your supervisor says you run up to those cars ... that’s what you’re going to do.” — Steph Stoughton (07:40)
• “We are supporting a major federal policy ... and we need a hospital, we need emergency medical care, we need dollars.” — Glenn Hall (14:06)
• “Morally, I don’t think we should ever be tied to a system that hurts Black and Brown bodies ... These individuals haven’t committed a crime.” — Savannah Pollock (18:14)
• “When you’re in a poverty level, we’re just thinking about, how can I get money in my pocket?” — Savannah Pollock (18:43)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:18–01:14]: ICE hiring surge details and national scrutiny
• [02:56–09:05]: Training changes, expert analysis, accountability debate
• [12:10–14:06]: Detention center expansion, focus on Folkestone, Georgia
• [16:12–17:36]: Human impact voiced by detainees and conflicted local officials
• [18:07–18:43]: Economic vs. moral argument within the community
• [19:33–19:47]: Outlook—new facilities and uncertain futures for host towns

Conclusion

This episode draws a vivid connection between government immigration policies, the economics of enforcement and detention, and the lived experience of both communities and detainees. It exposes the tradeoffs faced by rural towns balancing economic lifelines with human and ethical costs, underscores how training and internal culture shape agent behavior, and questions the sustainability and morality of linking community futures to the detention economy. The story’s multiple perspectives—from federal trainers to local residents and detainees—paint a complex, sometimes unsettling, portrait of the ICE hiring boom’s wide-reaching consequences.