FBI Redirected Over 9,000 Personnel to Immigration Enforcement — 23× Increase Under Trump Second Term

The Intercept reported on May 1, 2026, based on federal records, that the FBI multiplied the number of employees assigned to immigration-related enforcement by a factor of approximately 23 in the first nine months of the Trump second term. Before Trump took office in January 2025, 279 FBI personnel were assigned to immigration matters. By September 2025 that number had risen to more than 6,500 — and further grew to over 9,000 by spring 2026. In May 2026, the Trump administration set a new internal quota for ICE and partner agencies to arrest 3,000 people per day. National security experts and former law enforcement officials warned that the diversion of FBI agents to immigration enforcement creates critical gaps in other law enforcement priorities, including counterterrorism, foreign intelligence, cybercrime, and white-collar financial crimes. The FBI's traditional mission as a national security and criminal investigation agency has been significantly reshaped under the Trump second term's immigration mandate. The Intercept found the redeployment relied heavily on Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) and other multi-agency partnerships to press immigration enforcement across FBI field offices nationwide. The figures represent a fundamental reorientation of federal domestic law enforcement resources toward immigration enforcement at a scale never previously documented in U.S. history.