Dear NIOA members  and ICE ERO Staff,

We are pleased to share an important legislative update: all provisions in the House Republican reconciliation bill that would have negatively affected federal law enforcement (including ICE Officers) retirements have been removed from the latest version of the legislation. These provisions, which included changes to FERS contribution rates, the high-3 calculation, and the FERS annuity supplement, were eliminated by House Republicans as of yesterday.

In addition, we are pleased to share that the House Republican reconciliation bill – also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”  -- includes over $850 million dollars for retention and signing bonuses at ICE. The exact dollar amount of the individual retention bonuses will ultimately be up to the agency and to qualify, an employee will need to formally commit to 2 additional years of service with ICE. We’ll provide future updates once specific details regarding dollar amounts are finalized.

The legislation also provides funding for the agency to hire 10,000 additional personnel to “carry out immigration enforcement, and to prioritize and streamline the hiring of retired ICE personnel.”

While this is all very positive, there is still a provision affecting our non-law enforcement members that would change retirement calculations from high-3 to high-5, set to take effect in 2028. We remain committed to advocating on Capitol Hill alongside the FOP National for the best interests of our members to ensure the most favorable outcome.

As the bill progresses, we will keep you updated.

Thank you, 

NIOA Executive Board