Leaked FBI Memo Reveals Reassignment of Half Its Agents to Deportation Duties, Sparking Internal Crisis and Backlash

By Adam Goldman and Emily Cochrane Washington — Dec. 1, 2025

A leaked internal memo from the Federal Bureau of Investigation has exposed a profound upheaval within the bureau, detailing the reassignment of roughly half its 35,000 agents — at least part-time — to support President Donald J. Trump’s mass deportation initiative, a move that has triggered widespread panic among staff, resignations from veteran officials and a torrent of bipartisan condemnation. Obtained by The New York Times and corroborated by current and former law enforcement sources, the document outlines a directive from FBI Director Kash Patel to redirect resources from counterterrorism and white-collar crime probes to immigration enforcement under the Department of Homeland Security. As the memo circulated on social media and in congressional offices over the weekend, it has ignited real-time power struggles at the Justice Department, with aides leaking details of heated clashes between Mr. Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Democrats vowing subpoenas that could paralyze Mr. Trump’s signature policy before its full rollout.

The memo, dated Nov. 20 and marked “For Official Use Only,” was penned by Mr. Patel’s chief of staff, Joseph Grenier, and distributed to field offices nationwide. It mandates that “no fewer than 17,500 special agents” dedicate at least 20 hours weekly to “Operation Sentinel Gate,” a DHS-led operation invoking the Alien Enemies Act to expedite removals of an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. “This realignment is non-negotiable and critical to national security imperatives as defined by the president,” the document states, citing Mr. Trump’s January executive order prioritizing deportations over traditional FBI mandates. Agents are instructed to “embed with ICE tactical teams for raids, surveillance and intelligence sharing,” with performance metrics tied to deportation quotas rather than case closures in areas like cyber threats or domestic extremism.

The revelation, first amplified in a YouTube video by progressive commentator Brian Tyler Cohen on Nov. 30 — viewed over 1.5 million times — has unleashed a cascade of internal fallout. At least a dozen senior agents in the New York and Los Angeles field offices have submitted early retirement notices since Saturday, per union sources, citing ethical concerns over “weaponizing the FBI against civilians.” A whistleblower email, shared anonymously with The Times, described “mass hysteria” in a Chicago briefing where supervisors clashed with staff: “One lifer threw his badge on the table and walked out, yelling, ‘This isn’t the bureau I swore to protect.’” Mr. Patel, a Trump loyalist and former Fox News contributor whose confirmation barely cleared the Senate 52-48 amid accusations of partisanship, has responded with a directive for polygraph tests to root out leakers, echoing a March Pentagon memo under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that mandated similar scrutiny for “disloyalty.”

Mr. Trump, golfing at Mar-a-Lago amid the deluge, erupted on Truth Social Sunday evening: “FAKE LEAK from Deep State holdovers trying to SABOTAGE our GREAT Deportation! FBI is STRONGER than EVER — leakers will be HUNTED DOWN. America First means NO MORE INVASION!” The post, viewed 22 million times, reposted clips from Mr. Cohen’s video and a Fox News segment defending the shifts as “reprioritizing threats.” Yet behind the bluster, White House insiders leaked details of a “furious” Nov. 29 clash in the Oval Office, where Ms. Bondi reportedly warned Mr. Patel that the reassignments risked “total operational collapse” — with cyber squads gutted amid rising ransomware attacks and human trafficking units diverted from child exploitation cases. “Pam’s livid; Kash is digging in. It’s civil war at DOJ,” one aide said, speaking anonymously to avoid reprisals.

The backlash has transcended party lines, erupting in real time on Capitol Hill and beyond. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner, D-Va., who obtained a copy of the memo, blasted it on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Monday as “a betrayal of the FBI’s core mission — turning G-men into border patrol.” Joined by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Me., in a bipartisan statement, Mr. Warner demanded an inspector general probe and scheduled Dec. 10 hearings, subpoenaing Mr. Patel for testimony. “This isn’t security; it’s sabotage of our institutions,” Ms. Collins said, her moderate voice amplifying fears among Northeast Republicans whose districts host FBI hubs now strained by the shifts. House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., fired off a letter to Ms. Bondi Monday morning, accusing the administration of “hollowing out the FBI to fuel a xenophobic fantasy,” and vowing to block funding riders in the next CR.

Even within the G.O.P., fissures deepened. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a veteran whose Omaha field office lost 40 percent of its agents to ICE embeds, told reporters: “We’re short on fentanyl labs and long on border sweeps — this memo’s a disaster waiting to happen.” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump confidant, struck a cautious tone on Fox News: “Kash is tough, but if this leaks expose real chaos, we need fixes — not fights.” The internal memo’s circulation on X, under hashtags like #FBICrisis and #TrumpFBILeak, exploded with 3.4 million mentions by midday Monday, blending whistleblower threads from @KenKlippenstein — who broke a related DHS surveillance memo in October — with MAGA defenses from @JackPosobiec decrying “RINO sabotage.”

The upheaval ties into a broader pattern of Trump-era purges: Since January, Mr. Patel has fired 200 senior executives, installed loyalists in key posts and expanded polygraph use for “loyalty vetting,” per a Reuters investigation. Critics, including the Fraternal Order of Police, warn the reassignments — which sideline probes into Russian election interference and Capitol riot remnants — could embolden threats abroad and at home. “Half the FBI chasing migrants leaves the other half chasing shadows,” said Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director, in a CNN op-ed. Immigration advocates seized the moment: The ACLU filed an emergency suit Monday in D.C. federal court, arguing the shifts violate Posse Comitatus by militarizing domestic enforcement.

For Mr. Patel, 44, the leak compounds a tenure of controversy. A onetime Never Trumper turned MAGA acolyte, he vowed during confirmation to “drain the swamp” but now faces a morale crisis: Internal surveys leaked to Axios show 62 percent of agents “distrust leadership,” with turnover up 18 percent. Ms. Bondi, caught in the crossfire, issued a statement Monday afternoon: “The FBI remains committed to all threats — foreign and domestic. This memo reflects resource optimization, not crisis.” Yet her words rang hollow amid reports of a Sunday night DOJ all-hands where deputies clashed over quotas, one yelling, “We’re the FBI, not Trump’s deportation squad!”

As Monday’s sun rose over a capital braced for aftershocks, the memo’s exposure stood as a stark emblem of Mr. Trump’s second-term tensions: Loyalty over expertise, spectacle over substance. Historians draw parallels to Nixon’s “enemies list” era, when FBI overreach boomeranged into scandal. “This isn’t upheaval; it’s unraveling,” said Julian Zelizer, a Princeton political historian. With midterms looming and deportation raids slated for January, the power struggles aren’t abstract — they’re the bureau’s breaking point. In Washington, where leaks are the ultimate weapon, one memo’s breach may not just expose crisis; it could end empires.