Tipsheet

There's Reportedly Some Serious Tension Between ICE and Border Patrol Right Now

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  October 30, 2025 11:00 PM

There’s a serious problem brewing within the Department of Homeland Security. It’s nothing new, as department rivalries and turf wars are as American as apple pie in Washington, DC. Last week, given the torpid pace of the deportations, the Trump administration opted to purge top ICE officials and replace them with those from the Border Patrol. It’s been a move that has not been received warmly in some corners, to put it nicely. Some sources added that ICE was dogging it regarding deportation operations. So, Border Patrol is reportedly looking forward to showing the rest of DHS how it's done when it comes to getting rid of people who shouldn't be here. Anna Giaritelli at the Washington Examiner has more:

ICE employees are not happy about any of it, feeling replaced and exhausted from the past nine months. Meanwhile, Border Patrol agents are ecstatic, according to four sources. 

The first source, who has a keen sense of how the workforce is handling the changes, warned that morale among ICE’s 6,500 officers is declining due to the infusion of outside employees and leaders. 

[…] 

Border Patrol’s arrival in places such as Chicago and Portland, Oregon, has made headlines due to its agents’ more aggressive approach to protecting federal facilities from protesters and in how they are nabbing people who attempt to interfere with their work. 

Those who spoke with the Washington Examiner were concerned that the flashiness of it all was why Border Patrol was suddenly in demand while maintaining that ICE was simply exhausted, overwhelmed, or doing the best it could. 

A third person, a Border Patrol agent recently deployed to a major U.S. city to assist ICE, said he had not seen one ICE employee after more than a week on the ground there, causing him to question where ICE is and what its officers are doing. 

The fourth person, a former senior Border Patrol official, said Border Patrol is not only capable of doing ICE’s job but also eager to do it because agents believe ICE is, in fact, slacking. 

“Many of us have never been happy with ICE as partners,” the former official said. “You saw what the last four years for us was like. The perception is that they are always dragging their feet. They weren’t good team players.” 

That’s brutal if true. Regardless, this is a signature domestic aim for the Trump White House. The deportations must continue and be accelerated. Period. And if ICE is having issues, well, look at what just happened.