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Dean Cain 's become a real-life superhero for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ... with the agency saying he's giving their recruitment a major boost.

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin tells TMZ ... "We have certainly seen a pop in applications in the past few days -- we are grateful to Dean Cain for his efforts to highlight the work that ICE law enforcement is doing to remove terrorists, pedophiles, gang members and murderers from American communities." Play video content

As you know ... earlier this week, the actor took to social media, urging his followers to sign up as the agency worked to recruit loads of new officers.

His video took on a life of its own ... and hours after posting, he went on "Jesse Watters Primetime" to announce he'

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