ICE recruitment ad made to lure Denver police officers faces pushback from police and city leaders
The Denver Police Department says a recent TV ad from Immigration and Customs Enforcement has failed to lure any Denver officers away from the department, despite promises of a signing bonus of up to $50,000, student loan forgiveness, and other benefits.
ICE has produced and paid for ad space for similar commercials in other major cities dubbed "sanctuary jurisdictions" by ICE and Trump administration officials. ICE also said last week that it has received over 150,000 job applications and extended 18,000 job offers to candidates.
The commercial is currently airing on several Denver TV stations, including CBS Colorado.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said, in part, in a written statement that those applications come from "patriotic Americans who want to defend the homeland by removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from the U.S."
From Jan. 20 to July 29, a total of 3,533 immigrants were initially detained in the Denver Contract Detention Facility. A CBS News analysis of data made publicly available by ICE shows that 312 people, or 9%, had convictions for violent crimes. A greater number, about 11%, had convictions for traffic offenses. Roughly 29% had no pending charges or convictions, only civil immigration charges, such as crossing the border illegally.
Those numbers break down as such:
- No Conviction - Pending Criminal Charges: 32%
- No Conviction - Other Immigrant Violator: 29%
- Traffic Offenses: 11%
- Assault: 6.5%
- Dangerous Drugs: 5.1%
- Immigration: 2.8%
- Larceny: 1.2%
- Sexual Assault: 1.2%
- Homicide: 0.4%
- Robbery: 0.4%
ICE's recruitment effort appears to have ramped up in late July, with promises of signing bonuses, student loan forgiveness, overtime pay, and enhanced retirement benefits.
The ads targeting local law enforcement officers appear to be a more recent iteration of the recruitment effort, with the commercial played across TV networks starting with "Attention Denver law enforcement, you took an oath to protect and serve, to keep your family, your city safe. But in sanctuary cities, you're ordered to stand down, while dangerous illegals walk free."
A Denver Police Department spokesman, however, says the ad buy has had no impact on the department's personnel numbers, adding that DPD's salaries quickly offset ICE's maximum signing bonuses, despite DPD not offering signing bonuses.
"Per our knowledge, we have not lost any officers to ICE as part of their new signing and retention bonus program," a DPD spokesman told CBS News Colorado. "However, if you do a side-by-side comparison of the lowest starting salaries, new DPD officers earn nearly $22,000 more annually than new ICE deportation officers, and Denver Police officer wages increase significantly each year to the point that, currently, officers earn more than $110,000 annually just four years after graduating from our Academy."
And despite DPD being understaffed, according to a 2023 report from the Denver Auditor's Office, the department told CBS Colorado that its newest academy class was full, with over 50 recruits.
The department also touted a reduction in violent crime, including a more than 43% decrease in homicides, a 21% decrease in non-fatal shootings, and a 21% decrease in reported violent gun crime, comparing Jan. 1 through Sept. 22 of 2025 when compared to the same period in 2024. "These results clearly demonstrate that the Denver Police Department is not 'standing down' but rather is addressing criminal activity head-on," added the DPD spokesman.
Jon Ewing, a city spokesman, boasted similar numbers over the last three years, saying Denver has seen the largest reduction in crime rates in several categories of any major city in the U.S.
"The officers ICE wishes to recruit are the same men and women who rescued young migrant children from the cold and stood guard at shelters," he told CBS Colorado. "If President Trump is looking for a police force to carry out his political agenda, he's got the wrong city."
In addition to Denver, a job posting on ICE's website says they're looking for deportation officers in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and elsewhere.
ICE referred a request for comment about Denver's position, as well as the costs associated with the ad campaign, and how many job candidates are from the Denver area to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS did not respond to specific questions, but directed us to their recent recruitment update.
A CBS News poll in mid-July also showed that support for the Trump administration's deportation program had fallen by 10% since February.
