Hundreds of vehicles purchased for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are reportedly sitting unused, raising concerns inside the Department of Homeland Security about wasted funding and operational missteps.
The vehicles, which include pickup trucks and SUVs marked with ICE’s name, logo and motto, were ordered during the tenure of a former deputy to outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. According to a report by the Washington Examiner, many agents believe the marked vehicles are unsuitable for enforcement operations and could compromise their work.
Sources familiar with the matter say ICE officers traditionally rely on unmarked vehicles while conducting enforcement actions involving undocumented migrants. Using highly visible vehicles could make agents easier to identify and disrupt investigations.
“ICE has never had marked vehicles,” said a source familiar with the purchases. “In talking to people, they’re like, ‘We don’t want to use these, we can’t.’”
Officials say the decision is especially puzzling given the department’s own concerns about officer safety. The Department of Homeland Security has claimed that assaults against ICE personnel have increased by 8,000 per cent, a figure cited to justify measures such as agents wearing masks on duty or changing license plates on rental vehicles used during patrols.
Despite those security considerations, former ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan approved a bulk purchase of the marked vehicles. According to sources, the order was placed without consulting experienced ICE leadership who oversee daily enforcement operations.
“If leadership would have been consulted — leadership being the executive assistant directors, do you need marked vehicles, the people that have done this job would have said, ‘We don’t need marked vehicles, because you’re not going to use them,’” the source said.
The purchase was funded through a large federal spending measure known as the GOP’s One Big, Beautiful Bill, which allocated $170 billion over four years for border security and immigration enforcement.
ICE announced in November that it would spend $2.25 million on 25 Chevrolet Tahoes featuring agency branding. The contract went to Rick Hendrick, a Republican donor and owner of Hendrick Motorsports in North Carolina.
However, according to the report, the order process was not fully completed, meaning other companies were not given the opportunity to submit competing bids. Additional funds ranging from $174,000 to $230,000 were reportedly spent on companies hired to wrap the vehicles with ICE branding.
Sheahan, who graduated from Ohio State University in 2019, left ICE earlier this year to run for Congress in Ohio. Sources told the Washington Examiner that both Noem and DHS special government employee Corey Lewandowski approved the vehicle purchase.
When questioned last year about her qualifications, Sheahan defended her background, saying, “I absolutely think I’m qualified for the job. Because at the end of the day, what really makes anybody qualified for any job?”
Still, critics within the agency argue that the purchase reflects a lack of understanding of field operations.
“It’s ridiculous because you don’t want to advertise what you’re doing,” the source said. “We’re just hiding them in a parking garage somewhere because we don’t want to drive them. Who wants to drive the marked vehicles?”
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