You’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof.

Photo: An ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations deportation officer prepares his protective equipment prior to conducting an arrest on April 19, 2022 in Manassas, VA. Photo credit: Erica Knight via DVIDS. Public Domain. Article by Laura Jedeed. Slate – January 13, 2026.

What happens when you do minimal screening before hiring agents, arming them, and sending them into the streets? We’re all finding out.

The plan was never to become an ICE agent. The plan, when I went to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Career Expo in Texas last August, was to learn what it was like to apply to be an ICE agent. Who wouldn’t be curious? The event promised on-the-spot hiring for would-be deportation officers: Walk in unemployed, walk out with a sweet $50k signing bonus, a retirement account, and a license to brutalize the country’s most vulnerable residents without consequence—all while wrapped in the warm glow of patriotism. […]

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Video: Journalist describes ‘odd’ experience applying to ICE and getting ‘final job offer’ – MS NOW

Related article:

Anti-Trump US reporter says she was offered job at ICE after ‘minimal vetting’ – The Guardian

Journalist Tests ICE Recruitment; Surprised to Find Herself Hired with No Background Check – Democracy Now!

DHS Picks Fight With Reporter Who Exposed ICE’s Shoddy Hiring – The New Republic

‘Sloppy’: Journalist who went through ICE’s hiring process details experience to CNN – CNN