Sources from ICE told Newsmax that their rank and file are excited about the prospect of being reassigned by the thousands from desk duty to fieldwork in sanctuary cities when President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.

They can't wait to start "catching criminals that [President Joe] Biden let roam freely in the country for the last four years without any consequences," the sources said.

Another said they "can't wait" to get back on the streets.

Sources from multiple field offices told the New York Post on Thursday that 60% to 70% of their officers are currently on desk duty.

"We're coming"

Soon-to-be border czar Tom Homan said in an interview that he expects sanctuary cities to cooperate with ICE or get out of the way.

"If they're not willing to do it then get out of the way — we're coming," Homan said, adding that enforcing tougher immigration laws will require a lot of manpower, "so if I have to flood agents to the sanctuary cities to get the job done, then that's what we're gonna do."

There are around 21,000 total employees in the ICE workforce according to a DHS budget review.

Some officials with ICE are worried that they won't have enough manpower for mass deportations under Trump, even with the infusion of field agents.

Secret defunding

"The personnel have to be there to carry out these mass deportations," an ICE source told the Post. "Right now, a lot of units have been depleted."

"If the fugitive operations street team isn't making enough arrests, they'll crack down on them first," the source added. "And if that's still not enough, then they'll probably be mandated to add more officers to the arrest team to make more arrests."

Under the Biden administration, a kind of secret defunding happened that left dozens of vacant positions in each field office without the funding to fill them.

"They really defunded us without really saying it," a source said of Biden-Harris.

Homan plans to visit the southern and northern borders to assess needs right from the start.

He also plans to prioritize arresting migrant criminals who pose a threat to national security and reinstitute workplace raids.