DHS says it employs over 80,000 officers and agents, making it the largest federal law enforcement agency

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The statement is not 100% exact but close enough for a reasonable person (e.g., claimed 70% vs. actual 65%). Learn more in Methodology.

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Verify DHS staffing data or official records show more than 80,000 officers and agents and that this count is larger than other federal law enforcement agencies.

Source summary
On Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem honored federal law enforcement officers and highlighted examples of lifesaving actions by ICE and HSI personnel in 2025. The statement cites large percentage increases in assaults, vehicular attacks, and death threats against DHS officers and attributes those trends to hostile rhetoric from media and certain politicians. The release affirms departmental support for officers, encourages public thanks, and includes a recruitment link to join ICE.
Latest fact check

Official DHS publications state that the Department of Homeland Security "is the largest federal law enforcement agency" and that it has "approximately 80,000" or "more than 80,000" law enforcement officers across nine agencies and offices, matching the wording in the quoted statement.【https://www.dhs.gov/dhs-law-enforcement】【https://ohss.dhs.gov/topics/law-enforcement】 Independent data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics for FY 2020, however, show that DHS and its Inspector General employed about 66,410 full-time federal law enforcement officers with arrest and/or firearms authority out of 136,815 total federal officers, indicating DHS is the largest federal law enforcement employer but with a substantially lower count under that narrower definition.【https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/federal-law-enforcement-officers-2020-statistical-tables】【https://bjs.ojp.gov/data-collection/census-federal-law-enforcement-officers-cfleo】 DHS’s figure appears to include additional personnel (such as some TSA and Coast Guard roles) not counted as sworn officers in BJS statistics, so the "more than 80,000" number is not directly comparable to independent officer counts.

The verdict is Close because DHS does in fact claim to have roughly 80,000 law enforcement officers and to be the largest federal law enforcement agency, and it is the largest employer of federal law enforcement officers, but the specific "more than 80,000 officers and agents" figure overstates the number of sworn officers under standard statistical definitions and relies on a broader, less transparent definition of "officers and agents."

Timeline

  1. Update · Jan 10, 2026, 08:14 AMClose
    Official DHS publications state that the Department of Homeland Security "is the largest federal law enforcement agency" and that it has "approximately 80,000" or "more than 80,000" law enforcement officers across nine agencies and offices, matching the wording in the quoted statement.【https://www.dhs.gov/dhs-law-enforcement】【https://ohss.dhs.gov/topics/law-enforcement】 Independent data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics for FY 2020, however, show that DHS and its Inspector General employed about 66,410 full-time federal law enforcement officers with arrest and/or firearms authority out of 136,815 total federal officers, indicating DHS is the largest federal law enforcement employer but with a substantially lower count under that narrower definition.【https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/federal-law-enforcement-officers-2020-statistical-tables】【https://bjs.ojp.gov/data-collection/census-federal-law-enforcement-officers-cfleo】 DHS’s figure appears to include additional personnel (such as some TSA and Coast Guard roles) not counted as sworn officers in BJS statistics, so the "more than 80,000" number is not directly comparable to independent officer counts. The verdict is Close because DHS does in fact claim to have roughly 80,000 law enforcement officers and to be the largest federal law enforcement agency, and it is the largest employer of federal law enforcement officers, but the specific "more than 80,000 officers and agents" figure overstates the number of sworn officers under standard statistical definitions and relies on a broader, less transparent definition of "officers and agents."
  2. Original article · Jan 09, 2026

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