As predicted following its passage and signing into law in early July, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) has resulted in a surge in job applications at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Following that funding approval, hiring and training of sufficient personnel is the Trump Administration’s next step to fulfill its promise of increased enforcement.

OBBA provided the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with nearly $16 billion for staffing alone. Within DHS, ICE is the agency responsible for, broadly speaking, the immigration enforcement process within the U.S., including identification, arrests, detention, and removal of undocumented individuals.

CBP is responsible for border security and protection, aiming to keep terrorists, individuals without lawful documentation, and others seeking to do harm to the U.S. from entering.

DHS’s hiring plans “promise to transform the component agencies into behemoths with prodigious and unparalleled reach—if they can actually convince the people to come work for them.”

This summer, both ICE and CBP have seen a surge in job applications. ICE received $8 billion to triple its workforce by hiring 10,000 officers and agents. It has seen 100,000 new job applications. CBP received $4 billion to hire 8,500 employees. It saw 50,000 new job applications in the period leading up to the passing of OBBA, a 40% increase from the same time period in 2024.

Heavy funding and a spike in job applications do not necessarily mean an immediate increase in enforcement, however. The Trump Administration “has imposed steep expectations on ICE to conduct 3,000 arrests a day and a million deportations by [his] first year in office,” which “is roughly double” the current pace. While ICE has been busy in 2025, the end of year numerical goals may not be met. After hire, the training of ICE officers can be lengthy and challenging, even at an increased pace and with the lowering of training requirements and protocols. At CBP, there remain questions as to whether the applicant pool will yield enough willing, qualified applicants to accept positions. The agency has historically faced challenges in filling vacant positions, including due to the requirement enacted by Congress in 2010 that CBP law enforcement personnel take and pass a polygraph exam.

Jackson Lewis attorneys will continue to monitor ICE and CBP developments. If you have any specific questions regarding these developments, please reach out to a Jackson Lewis immigration attorney.

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Photo of Forrest G. Read IV Forrest G. Read IV

Forrest Read is a Principal in the Raleigh, North Carolina, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has extensive experience in both business immigration law and employment law and has particular focus in legal issues in graduate medical education (GME).

Mr. Read’s immigration practice…

Forrest Read is a Principal in the Raleigh, North Carolina, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has extensive experience in both business immigration law and employment law and has particular focus in legal issues in graduate medical education (GME).

Mr. Read’s immigration practice focuses on assisting employers in obtaining employment-based nonimmigrant visas (e.g., H-1B, L, O, TN) for foreign national employees and work-related immigrant (green card) visas, including PERM Labor Certifications, and advising employers on compliance with U.S. immigration laws and regulations. He has broad experience in advising large, mid-size and small employers on their various immigration needs and developing strategies to help them navigate through complex immigration issues. He also has particular experience in counseling employers in the health care industry and addressing immigration-related issues that arise for their broad range of health care professional employees (including advising on and obtaining employment authorization for medical residents and fellows and obtaining J-1 visa waivers for foreign national physicians completing their medical training in the United States). His immigration practice also includes defending employers in connection with Department of Labor H-1B and H-2B investigations.

Mr. Read’s employment law experience includes representing management, particularly academic medical centers in the GME context, in a wide array of workplace disputes and litigation before federal and state courts and administrative agencies, including matters related to discrimination, retaliation, harassment, disability, family and medical leave, various wage and hour issues, contracts, and intentional torts. He advises academic medical centers on the interplay between applicable academic law and employment law and the ramifications of what are divergent legal requirements and standards. Mr. Read also provides counsel with respect to the legal impact of competency standards for residents and trainees in GME, including situations involving discipline, remediation, and dismissal. He provides advice and guidance in the peer review process, including provision of verification and assessment of training in response to third party inquiries.

As a member of the Firm’s Corporate Diversity Counseling group, Mr. Read also has experience in providing assessments and making recommendations to corporate and institutional clients with respect to diversity and inclusion policies and initiatives, conducting related internal investigations, and shaping, developing and enforcing effective policies and initiatives to ensure consistency with client values and in furtherance of business goals and objectives.

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