ICE is Abandoning 'Drug' and 'Human Trafficking Cases' to Prioritize Deportations, Longtime ICE Agent Says

An Immigrations Customs and Enforcement (ICE) investigations team is reportedly choosing to direct their focus from drug and human trafficking cases to deportations to meet quotas from the Trump administration, according to a longtime ICE agent.

As ICE rushes to fulfill President Donald Trump's promise of "mass deportations," typical cases for some teams in the agency have reportedly fallen by the wayside.

One agent who has spent years with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations division told The Atlantic that leaders have dismissed taking on new cases so that they can better focus on arrests that will lead to deportations.

"No drug cases, no human trafficking, no child exploitation," the agent told the outlet. "It's infuriating."

While the investigations division previously devoted much of their attention to drug and cartel-related cases, high quotas from the Trump administration is what agents have interpreted as the reason for this change.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller previously called for ICE to arrest 3,000 migrants a day. Border Czar Tom Homan recently upped that demand to 7,000 per day while speaking to reporters on Monday.

But while the Trump administration has defended these quotas in the name of public safety, and Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said officials are "able to do their jobs again," ICE agents have reportedly been struggling under the pressure.

"Morale is in the crapper," one former investigative agent told The Atlantic. "Even those that are gung ho about the mission aren't happy with how they are asking to execute it—the quotas and the shift to the low-hanging fruit to make the numbers."

In June alone, the Trump administration completed 209 deportation flights, surpassing the previous record of 193 set by former President Joe Biden in 2021.

Since Trump took office in January, his administration has carried out more than 800 deportation flights. When compared to the same time period in 2024, the records show a 12% increase, according to Witness at the Border.

According to a June CBS News report, about 59,000 migrants are being held in detention centers across the country, despite the agency only having enough beds to accommodate 41,500. The budget for ICE was dramatically increased with the passage of Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" to $170 billion, which includes plans for more detention centers.

Originally published on Latin Times