Insiders are saying the Department of Homeland Security's ICE hiring is in "chaos" and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller is reportedly angry over "lagging" deportation numbers.
A DHS source told The Daily Beast on Monday that President Donald Trump's push to "throw money around" while "panic at the top of government” has unfolded with Miller's disappointment over agents not reaching Trump's goal of 3,000 deportations per day.
“There are calls with Miller, where everyone is being screamed at,” the official told The Beast. “The targets he is setting for them are ridiculous, and it is a case of them just spending any money they can to increase the number of officers and deportations.”
Hiring within the agency has also presented other problems — agents joining before badges, system access or guns are available. Some say the money offer is luring veteran agents back and "insiders claim that the crash program has led to disorder, with some veteran agents performing minimal work for substantial pay and ballooning costs."
Former executive-level leaders from HSI and Enforcement and Removal Operations have returned to the agency, "some of them taking home north of $250,000 for office-based shiftwork, per multiple sources who spoke to the Beast," the outlet reports.
“It has just been going so fast that the process is messed up. It has been chaotic to handle. Make no mistake, it is a s--tshow right now," one HSI veteran told The Beast.
Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, has claimed that many of the new agents would be law enforcement returnees.
However, according to several insiders, several former senior employees have returned to the federal pay scale.
"With locality pay in high-cost areas—such as parts of Texas, California, and New York—adding 35 percent or more to a basic salary, agents can earn up to $137,000 in the majority of the country. This rises to $171,268 in more expensive parts of the country, such as San Jose and San Francisco," The Beast reports.
Sources say that overtime pay has also added to the high paychecks, in addition to "ongoing federal pensions worth around $8,000–$9,000 a month, and some rehires can land well in excess of a quarter of a million annually."