The US immigration workforce is heavily Latino. The reasons are rooted in history.
The US immigration workforce is heavily Latino, with roughly half of all US Border Patrol agents and 30 percent of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents self-identifying as Latino. This trend may seem disconcerting given the vulnerability of the US Latino community to immigration enforcement, but some argue that Latinos in immigration enforcement are not acting to betray their own people. The reasons for this trend are rooted in history and are influenced by factors such as economic precarity, patriarchal gender norms, and white supremacy.
- ▪Roughly half of all US Border Patrol agents self-identify as Latino, as do 30 percent of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
- ▪The PEW Research Center reported that over half of US Latinos worry that they, a family member, or a close friend may be deported.
- ▪Latinos joining ICE cannot be explained in terms of a simple desire to protect the Latino community, but are instead influenced by complex factors.
- ▪The US-Mexico border has been drawn across land that used to be Mexico, resulting in many communities that flank the border being comprised of mostly working-class Latinos.
- ▪The economic precarity of the US-Mexico borderlands is a strong influence on Latino enlistment in immigration enforcement.
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Opinion>Opinions - Immigration The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill The US immigration workforce is heavily Latino. The reasons are rooted in history. Comments: by Amy Reed-Sandoval, opinion contributor - 05/22/26 12:30 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Amy Reed-Sandoval, opinion contributor - 05/22/26 12:30 PM ET Comments: Link copied FILE – A U.S Border Patrol badge is displayed as Gregory Bovino, chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector, stands in a conference room before an interview with The Associated Press in Los Angeles, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) It is indisputable: Large numbers of U.S. Latinos are signing up for jobs in immigration enforcement. Roughly half of all U.S.
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