What to Know
After Donald Trump signed the Big Beautiful Bill, setting aside around $75 billion for ICE, there was an influx of ICE agents seen on the streets of various U.S. cities on and off. But if you’re wondering what the going rate is for agents who undergo fast training and are handed life-threatening firearms and places on the streets to stop peaceful protestors, one ICE agent shared that information with a few protestors in a video on X (formerly Twitter).
The agent, who is masked in the video, because of course he is, claims that he makes $200,000 per year as an ICE agent meant to help in the deportation of undocumented individuals in the country. As protests continue across the U.S., though, there are questions about how valid his claims are of making six figures in his role. That would mean five ice agents could make a total of $1 million per year. The math just ain’t mathin’.
The ICE agent says his six-figure salary is legit.
ICE: “I love my job. I can't believe I get paid for this. I’d do this for free.”
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) January 13, 2026
PROTESTER: “I get $200k. I’m a physician assistant.”
ICE: “How long did you have to go to school?”
PROTESTER: “7 Years”
ICE: “I only went to high school and I make $200k.”pic.twitter.com/lD1HOi1MJe
In the video, the man filming the ICE agent asks the agent to “please calm down” and says that he and other protesters are “just observing” the agent. When someone else off-camera says that the agent is ashamed of himself, he says, “I love my job. I can’t believe I get paid for this.” He also says he would do his job as an ICE agent for free.
When a woman says that she went to school for seven years to be a physician’s assistant and that she makes $200,000 per year, the ICE agent further engages in conversation with her.
“I went to high school and I make 200k a year,” he says. If, and only if, he was someone much more high-ranking than most other ICE agents, maybe he could pull that much for his salary. But it’s highly unlikely that $200,000 is accurate, and some X users commented on the post to say just that.
“Lol silly billy,” one user commented. “He makes 60-70k with maybe some bonus max lol. Come on bro.”
Someone else added, “That’s all they paid him to be a Nazi??? Bro is cooked.” Ope.
Most ICE agents are paid less than $200,000.
According to the official job listings for ICE agents, a deportation officer instructor can earn as much as $142,000 per year, but that’s a higher ranking role than a simple boots on the ground ICE agent. That type of position, per a job listing online, starts at $34,799 and goes up to $50,428 per year. It’s unlikely that the man in the video on X is in a high ranking role as one of many ICE agents on the street.
Chances are, he was lying in order to mess with the protester or to make himself seem more important than he is. It wouldn’t be surprising if the latter is a concept that most of these ICE agents are familiar with, really. But any way you look at it, $200,000 is very likely a highly inflated number that’s hard to believe.
