By Suzanne Blake
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A now viral video appears to show an Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agent bragging about his salary on X.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk reposted the video, which has sparked wide backlash online.
“I love my job. I can't believe I get paid for this. I’d do this for free,” the ICE agent said in the video.
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Why It Matters
Criticism of ICE has been growing after President Donald Trump ramped up operations to get rid of undocumented immigrants and drug trafficking into the United States.
During an ICE operation in Minneapolis on January 7, a U.S. citizen, Renee Good, was shot and killed by ICE after ignoring agents’ demands to get out of her car and instead driving off.
What To Know
The video starts with the ICE agent telling onlookers filming him that if they get in his way, he will arrest them.
“We’re just observing. Please calm down,” one of the protesters behind the camera said in the video.
“You can observe all you want,” the ICE agent said before the onlookers replied, “You had anger issues as a kid, didn’t you? Were your parents present? You should be ashamed of yourself, man.”
The ICE agent replied: “I love my job, thank you. I can't believe I get paid for this. I’d do this for free.”
Then a female voice behind the camera is heard asking the ICE agent how much he gets paid. She said she’s a physician’s assistant.
“How long did you go to school for that?” the ICE agent said. “I went to high school, and I make $200,000.”
According to USA Jobs, the government hiring website, openings posted last year for deportation officers carried salaries of between $49,739 and $89,528 per year, with ICE saying that pay can increase through overtime and location-dependent additions.
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The video sparked mixed reactions online.
“In my circle I would know at least 200 people who immediately would do this for free,” X user Martin Sellner wrote on X. “We need this in Europe.”
Another user wrote: “You can tell she was seething that he makes as much as her. ahahahahahh! Dang, I wanna do that now.”
But those critical of ICE’s operations had other things to say.
X user @Yubbie007 wrote: “ICE agent flexes $200k high-school paycheck while deporting people because nothing says ‘American dream’ like border patrol paying better than medicine after zero student loans.”
“We got a lot of fraud in the US, but $200k to be an ICE agents is lowkey fraud too,” said another commenter.
Newsweek reached out to ICE for comment via email.
The killing of Good last week has fostered nationwide uproar and criticism of ICE’s operations in cities across the country.
“Renee Nicole Good should be alive today. Her death has sparked grief and outrage across the country as the latest horrific incident in a mounting toll of enormous harm and horror caused by ICE,” Leah Greenberg, Co-Executive Director of Indivisible, said previously in a statement. “We demand justice for Renee, ICE out of our communities, and action from our elected leaders. Enough is enough."
What People Are Saying
DaMareo Cooper, executive director of Popular Democracy, said in a statement: “Every person ICE has killed had a family, a community, and a life that mattered. Pouring billions of public dollars into a rogue enforcement agency that terrorizes our communities while denying people health care, housing, food security, and education is morally indefensible and profoundly reckless… We demand accountability for the killing of Renee Nicole Good and for the countless lives lost at the hands of ICE. The lesson is clear: this violence will not stop until ICE is abolished.”
Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer at the ACLU, said in a statement: “The shootings in Minneapolis and Portland weren’t the beginning of ICE’s cruelty, but they must be the end… Whether it's by joining a protest, attending a know your rights training, or demanding that our Congresspeople stop funding these out-of-control agencies, Americans across the country are saying “NO. Not on our watch.”
Vice President JD Vance said at a press conference at the White House last week: “You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action. That’s a federal issue. That guy is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job.”
What Happens Next
Some Americans continue to push for an investigation into Good’s death as well as limits on ICE’s actions at large.
Immigration enforcement is continuing in Minneapolis alongside the majority of the top U.S. cities.
Update 1/15/26, 4:04 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
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