Immigration and Customs Enforcement is flush with cash for an aggressive recruiting campaign to fulfill Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. But new recruits are reportedly failing physical fitness requirements and entering training programs before the agency performed background checks or finished a screening process.
ICE officials have discovered that some recruits failed drug testing or had disqualifying criminal backgrounds while they were already enrolled in training, according to NBC News.
Since the beginning of a summer hiring surge after the president approved $178 billion to expand the agency into one of the most expensive police agencies in the world, ICE has dismissed more than 200 new recruits while they were in training for falling short of requirements, according to agency data reviewed by NBC.
Most did not meet physical and academic standards — including failing open-book tests — while several were dismissed for their criminal backgrounds or over safety concerns that were flagged in background checks, the outlet reported.
At least one recruit at the agency’s training academy in Brunswick, Georgia, had been previously charged with strong-arm robbery and battery stemming from a domestic violence incident, according to a Homeland Security official speaking to NBC.
Several recruits also had not submitted fingerprints or gone through any background checks at all before entering the six-week training course, officials said.
Homeland Security deputy secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed that a majority of new recruits are former law enforcement officers who go through a different hiring process; per ICE policy, applicants are required to pass drug tests and undergo a security check before they enter training.
McLaughlin said the figures in NBC’s report are “not accurate” and “reflect a subset of candidates in initial basic academy classes.”
“The vast majority of new officers brought on during the hiring surge are experienced law enforcement officers who have already successfully completed a law enforcement academy,” she said. “This population is expected to account for greater than 85 percent of new hires. Prior-service hires follow streamlined validation but remain subject to medical, fitness, and background requirements.”
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The Trump administration has aimed for hiring 10,000 ICE agents by next year, or roughly doubling its footprint, with a major boost to the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division.
Critics have warned that hitting that 10,000 target — without adequate guardrails to screen future agents and know exactly who is filling those roles — the government could open the door to repeat past mistakes, as ICE faces intense legal scrutiny over allegations of abuse and illegal use of force as Trump surges federal officers into cities across the country.
“The loosening of hiring standards and training requirements is unacceptable and will likely result in increased officer misconduct — similar to or worse than what occurred during a small surge in hiring U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in the early 2000s,” Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem this week.
“Exacerbating our concerns, DHS has gutted offices responsible for overseeing ICE officers and ensuring accountability for use-of-force incidents,” he added. “Given these developments, greater congressional oversight of ICE’s hiring is essential.”
To boost recruitment, Homeland Security offered a “maximum $50,000 signing bonus” and student loan forgiveness. DHS also dropped age limit requirements, allowing people as young as 18 years old to apply and opening ICE to recruits older than 40 years old.
The training period at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia shrunk from 13 weeks to eight — and then six.
Recruits must also pass a physical fitness test, including running 1.5 miles under 14 minutes and 25 seconds.
But dozens of new recruits were sent packing because they couldn’t pass a legal exam, in which officers are allowed to use their books and notes for a test on the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Fourth Amendment.
Another group of recruits was dismissed after medical issues or failing the physical fitness requirements. “It’s pathetic,” one career ICE official told The Atlantic.
The federal government has been struggling to enroll physically fit personnel to join the ranks since even before Trump, with military branches also regularly failing to meet recruiting goals.
One Pentagon study found that more than three-quarters of Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 were ineligible for service because they were overweight, unable to pass an aptitude test, afflicted by physical or mental health issues, or ruled out by a criminal record.
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