Superman actor Dean Cain is joining US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
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US actor Dean Cain is probably best known for his role as Superman on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman (1993 to 1997).
PHOTO: AFP
Claire Moses
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NEW YORK – Dean Cain, the American actor who played Superman in a popular 1990s TV series, said on Aug 6 that he would sign up to become an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.
Cain’s announcement came as United States President Donald Trump’s administration pushes to hire thousands of new personnel to support its nationwide deportation campaign.
Cain, 59, posted a video to his Instagram account on Aug 6 urging people to join ICE, listing incentives that the administration has said it will offer new officers. The Superman theme song plays in the background.
Later in the day, Cain said on Fox News programme, Jesse Watters Primetime, that he, too, was joining the agency.
“I will be sworn in as an ICE agent ASAP,” he said, noting that he was a sworn deputy sheriff and a reserve police officer.
On Aug 7, Ms Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant Homeland Security secretary, confirmed in an e-mail that Cain would be sworn in over the next month “as an honorary ICE Officer”.
As part of its recruitment drive, the Department of Homeland Security has eliminated the age limit for ICE officers. In July, the department announced incentives for new recruits, including a signing bonus of up to US$50,000 (S$64,000), options for “student loan repayment and forgiveness” and retirement benefits.
Ms Kristi Noem, US Secretary of Homeland Security, told Fox News this week that she planned to hire 10,000 additional ICE personnel and that the department had already received 80,000 applications.
Cain said in his Fox News interview that ICE would now have “80,000 and one recruits”.
When asked if he would be “hopping out of ICE vans and apprehending guys”, Cain said he would do anything that Mr Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, asked him to do, but added that he doubted that he would “be in that position”.
Cain, who has more than 200 acting credits but is probably best known for his role on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman (1993 to 1997), is an outspoken supporter of Mr Trump.
“I love President Trump. I’ve been friends with him forever,” Cain told Variety magazine in July.
As the Trump administration has pursued the US president’s objective of deporting millions of people, immigration arrests increased in the US in the first half of 2025 and more than doubled in 38 states, according to New York Times reporting. Most of the arrests have occurred in states with large immigrant populations, including Florida and Texas.
To achieve the administration’s deportation goals, ICE has been using more aggressive tactics in recent months, including detaining people at immigration court hearings.
ICE agents often wear masks when they carry out immigration raids. Cain, however, said he would not wear a mask.
“I’ve just outed myself completely right now,” he told Jesse Watters. “And as much as my parents want me to wear a mask because they fear for it, no chance in hell.” NYTIMES
