As immigration became a top priority for the current administration, the Department of Homeland Security received a massive boost: the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act added more than $80 billion to DHS budgets, and in January the agency said it had hired over 12,000 new agents. That surge shows up on streets in cities like Los Angeles and Minneapolis, where masked officers and unmarked cars have become a frequent sight.
Who is listening to the officers?
Karl Loftus, an independent journalist who runs the Instagram account @deadcrab_films, started a project called Confessions of an ICE Agent. He posts anonymous interviews with people who work in immigration enforcement across DHS, including agents from Homeland Security Investigations, Enforcement and Removal Operations, and Customs and Border Protection. The interviews are meant to give officers a way to speak outside official channels while protecting their identities.
What the interviews reveal
The accounts are blunt. Some officers question political hires and leadership choices. One biracial agent said they thought the replacement for the DHS secretary was a "DEI" hire. An HSI agent called the people leading the government "imbeciles" and said they were "disgusted by nearly all of them."
Other comments touch on operational priorities. An HSI investigator described being forced to pause work on child sexual abuse cases to focus on immigration enforcement. As they put it, "If they gave child exploitation cases a fraction of the attention, funding, resources, personnel, analytical support, etc. that they’re now giving immigration enforcement, we could do so much good."
These posts create an on-the-record archive of what some inside DHS are experiencing as enforcement expands, even while the agency keeps tight control over official communication and the lines between different federal officers blur.
How Loftus finds and vets sources
Loftus did not start out covering immigration. He came to the work after years volunteering in disaster response, from Hurricane Florence in 2018 to relief in Jamaica. A trip to Minneapolis after a high-profile shooting was the moment he first filmed protest activity outside the local ICE office. Later, a source shared a video of another shooting before mainstream outlets had it. Loftus posted that video to his veteran-heavy audience and asked for opinions. That conversation led to direct messages from ICE agents and the idea for the interview project.
Vetting is handled cautiously. Early interviews were set up through known contacts. Loftus describes a system of referrals and spot checks. He may show a screenshot to a trusted contact inside an agency for confirmation. He also uses agency-specific questions that only a genuine officer would answer correctly. Interviews are conducted over Signal and Loftus does not retain direct contact info for sources.
Public reaction and pressure
The response has been wide and mixed. People across the political spectrum have told Loftus they found the interviews illuminating, even when they disagree with the officers' work. Instead of explosive comment fights, many readers reacted with curiosity and surprise.
But the project has also attracted pressure. Loftus says he receives demands to reveal interviewees from protesters, organized groups, and even people claiming to be Border Patrol. He expects that the Department of Homeland Security could try to push back legally. Agents who speak out internally risk losing their jobs, and Loftus worries about subpoenas and other efforts to identify his sources. He says some HSI agents have helped him shore up operational security.
Official response
When asked to comment on anonymous interviews, DHS told reporters it cannot verify such conversations. The department added that its Homeland Security Investigations unit "is not slowing down and remains committed to all aspects of its mission, leveraging a whole-of-government approach to address threats to public safety and national security."
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
