This is Planet Money from NPR.

In the last year, the Department of Homeland Security says 12,000 new agents and officers have joined U.S. immigration and customs enforcement, or ICE.

This was an unprecedented hiring boom that more than doubled ICE's ranks.

The agency was aggressive in its recruitment efforts. It waived age requirements and offered

signing bonuses of up to $50,000. The Department of Homeland Security says it's deploying agents

to remove the quote, worst of the worst from the U.S. This large ramp up has turned ICE into

arguably one of the fastest-growing

and most scrutinized workplaces in the country right now. That's because its performance

is highly visible and at times questionable. The majority of immigrants caught up in this crackdown

have no criminal convictions, many have legal status, and even U.S. citizens have been

taken into custody. Recent surveys show an increasing number of Americans saying the immigration

crackdown has gone too far. Some politicians and community leaders are even calling for

ICE to be dismantled. Others say they need better training or a culture shift or both. Are those changes needed?

And would they even make a difference? Hello and welcome to Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong,

normally a co-host of Planet Money's daily podcast, The Indicator. And I'm Darian Woods. Today on the show,

the ice hiring boom is having domino effects. How has training new officers changed and at what cost?

Also, the Trump administration has plans to pour billions of dollars into warehouses for mass immigrant detention centers,

which can totally change the economy of some areas.

We hear from a rural town in Georgia that wants an ice facility in its own backyard.

The Trump administration's massive tax and spending law gave $750 million to something called the

federal law enforcement training centers. These are the facilities that train recruits for

ICE, U.S. Border Patrol, and U.S. Customs, and Border Protection. Mark Brown taught at the

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