Kristi Noem leveled by National Sheriff’s Association CEO for creating staffing chaos

Local law enforcement leaders are growing increasingly frustrated with DHS s Secretary Kristi Noem's recruitment efforts, which they say have aggressively targeted members of their own ranks amid nationwide police shortages.

“It's just one of those things where you would not try to steal your brother's girlfriend just to have a date, so we're a little bit frustrated to say the least,” said Jonathan Thompson, executive director and CEO of the National Sheriff’s Association, speaking with CNN Saturday.

The Trump administration has launched an aggressive recruitment campaign for ICE as it seeks to reach its self-imposed quota of arresting 3,000 migrants a day, and has gone as far as sending emails to local law enforcement agencies looking to poach their officers.

“Your experience in state or local law enforcement brings invaluable insight and skills to this mission – qualities we need now more than ever,” read one email targeting local law enforcement officers written by ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan, obtained by CNN.

With local law enforcement agencies suffering from staffing shortages nationwide, however, Thompson said the recruitment campaign was causing growing frustration among police officers and sheriff deputies.

“We're frustrated, I think it's hard to fathom how difficult the recruiting and retention problems facing law enforcement across this country are,” he said. “With many agencies looking at anywhere from 25% to 40% vacancy rates, this came to us as a bit of a surprise that you'd go to your partners to start recruiting for them.”

Trump has bolstered ICE with a record-high budget of $37.5 billion, making the agency’s budget higher than the military budgets of all but 15 countries, with the agency offering sign-on bonuses as high as $50,000.

And yet, the agency, led by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, has struggled to meet hiring expectations, going as far as forcibly reassigning Federal Emergency Management Agency staff to ICE under threat of termination.

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