Data on More Than 41,000 US Homeland Security Employees Leaked

A nonprofit information-leak group has published data on more than 41,000 employees of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including officials involved in implementing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The group announced the disclosure on Wednesday, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The data was reportedly obtained by Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets) from a hacktivist group known as the Department of Peace. The group developed an investigative tool called “IcePick,” which allows users to search detailed information about employees, including their names, offices and responsibilities.

“This dataset is massive in both scale and impact,” said Maia Arson Crimew, an individual associated with DDoSecrets, in a statement.

“It provides an unprecedented view into the organisational structure of the Department of Homeland Security,” Crimew said, adding that the information sheds light on personnel and their roles across various DHS agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Officials involved in sensitive operations identified

Emma Best, co-founder of DDoSecrets, described the data leak as unusual.

She said the information could help identify officials overseeing covert and undercover operations, personnel tasked with identifying government whistleblowers, and key officials involved in the DHS’s expanding deportation programme.

The DHS and ICE have been at the centre of Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign since he began his second presidential term in January 2025.

The campaign has resulted in the detention and deportation of thousands of undocumented immigrants, while US citizens have also been caught up in enforcement operations.

Immigration crackdown set to intensify

Last month, the DHS announced plans to intensify enforcement operations in so-called “sanctuary cities,” where local authorities limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agencies.

The announcement signalled the Trump administration’s intention to further expand its immigration crackdown.

According to a fact sheet from the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, the DHS has expanded arrests and deportations under Trump in recent months, surpassing immigration enforcement levels under his predecessor, Joe Biden, in certain areas.

The institute’s figures indicate that during the first 18 months of Trump’s second term, the DHS and its agencies, including ICE, deported approximately 980,000 people.

The disclosure of employee information raises concerns about the exposure of personnel involved in sensitive government operations, although the full scope of the leak and its potential consequences remain unclear.