FBI redirects one quarter of staff to work on immigration enforcement

In the first nine months of the second Trump administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation massively increased the number of agents working on immigration-related matters at the bureau, with roughly a quarter of the bureau working on such matters by September.

Records obtained by The Intercept revealed that there had been just 279 FBI personnel working on "immigration-related matters" before Trump returned to office. By September, that number was over 6,500. Overall, between his inauguration and September 7, 9,161 individuals at the FBI worked on such matters. This is around one quarter of the bureau’s 38,000 employees.

Just six days after his inauguration, the number of FBI employees working on immigration had jumped by over 1,000, to 1,390 employees. By the first week of February, that number hit 2,260. The number of employees working on immigration matters peaked at 6,803 in June.

It is unclear if these employees were part of the FBI’s total workforce or a smaller subset of 13,700 special agents, the outlet stated. The Cato Institute in September published a disclosure from ICE which reported that 2,840 of those special agents, or around 1 in 5, were being redirected to work on ICE enforcement and removal operations. 

An FBI spokesperson told The Intercept, "While the FBI does not comment on specific personnel numbers or decisions, FBI agents and staff are dedicated professionals working around the clock to defend the homeland and crush violent crime. The FBI continuously assesses and realigns our resources to ensure the safety of the American people, and we surge resources based on needs."

The revelation comes as thousands of agents at agencies that include the DEA, IRS, and ATF, in addition to the FBI, have been diverted to assist in the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.