GUNSGun Sellers Have Made Millions from Trump’s Deployment of Immigration Agents
Firearms companies – faced with plummeting sales to the general public – found a lucrative new opportunity last year: arming President Donald Trump’s immigration operation. Last year, DHS spent a record sum on guns and ammunition, a Trace analysis found.
This story was originally published by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here.
Firearms companies – faced with plummeting sales to the general public – found a lucrative new opportunity last year: arming President Donald Trump’s immigration operation.
A Trace analysis of federal spending data found that gun industry revenue ballooned as Department of Homeland Security agents carried out mass federal raids in major cities — and shot people trying to protest or document the agents’ activities. In 2025, weapons manufacturers received a record $120.7 million through DHS contracts, the data shows. That is the highest amount in at least 10 years. Many of the biggest contracts were awarded to companies that supplied firearms, ammunition, and related equipment to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.
Among the biggest beneficiaries was Geissele Automatics, a Pennsylvania-based gun seller that supplies rifles to immigration enforcement agents. Geissele raked in $13.1 million in DHS contracts last year — up 400 percent from its previous high in 2023. Geiselle has made no secret of its DHS affiliation: The company’s website features a “Border Patrol” section where civilians can ostensibly purchase the same rifles sold to agents.
Glock, another major contractor, received more from DHS contracts in 2025 — $8.3 million — than in the previous four years combined. The gunmaker provided CBP agents with 9 mm handguns, repair parts, and accessories, according to federal procurement records.
The windfall for gun sellers comes as immigration agents face growing scrutiny for their tactics. A December congressional investigation found that agents had “routinely used excessive force” on U.S. citizens since the surge began. The Trace has identified 19 incidents in which immigration agents shot someone — and another 36 incidents in which they held demonstrators, bystanders, or other people at gunpoint under questionable circumstances. In separate shootings this month in Minneapolis, immigration agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37 years old, who were observing the agents’ actions.
“Every single company that has a contract with ICE or CBP should be sitting down with their board right now and making the decision to back out of that contract,” Heidi Altman, vice president for policy at the National Immigration Law Center, told The Trace. Altman accused Homeland Security contractors of being complicit in the “lawlessness and violence” by agents.
Geissele and Glock did not respond to requests for comment.
