Senators Say 28,000+ Federal Agents Were Diverted From Child-Exploitation and Drug Probes To Staff ICE

Democratic lawmakers allege the administration has redirected thousands of federal law-enforcement personnel from investigations into child exploitation, human trafficking and cartel activity to bolster Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. The claim comes in a letter demanding a full accounting of reassignments and a list of investigations affected.

Key Allegations

Representative Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), joined by 28 Democratic senators and one independent, sent the letter to the president, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DoJ), seeking details on officers reassigned to immigration enforcement and the scope of investigations disrupted.

The senators point to an August 2025 ICE document (published by the Cato Institute) that they say shows more than 28,000 federal personnel were diverted to ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). They also cite a November investigation by The New York Times and reporting in The Guardian that linked the reassignments to declines in narcotics arrests, fewer weapons seizures and reduced follow-up on reports of child sexual exploitation.

“You have pulled agents away from some of the federal government’s most critical criminal investigations, weakening the very work that ensures public safety,” the senators wrote. They warned that diverting agents to civil immigration enforcement leaves fewer investigators available to pursue child predators, drug traffickers and other dangerous criminals.

Agencies And Cases Cited

The senators say the reassignments have affected multiple agencies, including the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Department of Defense, Internal Revenue Service, Secret Service and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). They singled out Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) as especially hard hit, saying entire HSI units have been moved to immigration duties.

• Alleged impacts include reduced investigations into cyber-attacks, domestic extremism, narcotics trafficking, sanctions evasion, human smuggling and child sexual exploitation.
• Engineers at major tech firms reportedly noted a drop in federal follow-up after reporting child safety issues.
• Reports cited an estimated 80% of some ATF special agents and nearly half of certain FBI field-office agents being reassigned to immigration work.

Administration Response And Data

The letter requested that the administration disclose, by 19 January, the threat assessments that motivated reassignments, communications directing personnel to ICE, and any internal objections from agency leadership or investigators. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, dismissed the letter and defended HSI’s record, saying FY25 was the agency’s highest year for criminal enforcement with more than 46,000 arrests.

However, The New York Times' analysis of HSI data found that as civil immigration arrests rose dramatically, narcotics arrests dropped by roughly 11%, new narcotics investigations declined about 15%, and weapons seizures fell by about 73%—figures the White House disputed as selective.

Context

ICE has also reported a major hiring surge—more than 12,000 new officers and employees in the past year—and detention numbers reached a reported high of more than 68,400 people in December. The detained population increasingly includes people without criminal records, which critics say contradicts claims the agency is focused on the most dangerous offenders.

The FBI declined to comment. DHS, DoJ and ATF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.