Fact Check: Do ICE agents get bonuses for arrests even if people are released?
WASHINGTON, DC: The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during President Donald Trump's second run as the POTUS has made several arrests across the United States, and has been criticized by people for their actions.
In mid-January 2026, a rumor circulated online claiming that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE offered bonuses to agents for making arrests, even if those arrested were released. But is there any truth to this? Let us find out below.
Claim: ICE agents get bonuses for arrests even if people are released
The rumor spread across social media platforms such as X, Facebook, and YouTube. An X user wrote, "Reporting from the WSJ covers the ICE incentive structure: - ICE agents get additional rewards based on their arrests -Those rewards count even if the person is RELEASED without charges."
Meanwhile, a Facebook post read, "Rewarding ICE agents for arrests — even if the person is released without charges — is leading to chaos in the streets and Constitutional rights being violated. This isn’t making us safer."
The rumor originated with a January 17 report from The Wall Street Journal that said ICE agents 'are under pressure from daily arrest quotas that leadership has set at 3,000 a day across the country, the number it would take to reach one million arrests in a year' and added that 'officers are rewarded for making arrests, even if the immigrants they take in are later released.'
Fact Check: DHS says the policy 'has never and never was in effect'
A spokesperson for DHS, the department that oversees ICE, informed Snopes that 'this policy has never and never was in effect'. The WSJ report also mentioned that ICE has 'never come close' to reaching that daily quota.
One of the most popular social media posts, sharing the claim that ICE officers were getting rewards for arrests, also included a link to the WSJ article.
Interestingly, people potentially conflated the 3,000-arrest quota with a specific dollar amount, though the WSJ piece did not specify any amount or even whether the alleged rewards were monetary.
Moreover, the recruitment material for ICE available online does not state anything about rewards or bonuses for arrests.
A website mentioned ICE's employment benefits, including health care, suicide prevention, and retirement options, does not mention any bonus structure or reward system for meeting arrest quotas.
As per a December 2025 Axios report, ICE has been arresting roughly 1,100 people per day in recent weeks, according to government data released via a Freedom of Information Act request from the Deportation Data Project.
It also noted that the agency averaged 821 arrests from Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2025, through October 15, 2025.
