Whom Is ICE Actually Recruiting?

"The Department of Homeland Security recently boasted that it has hired more than 12,000 ICE officers and agents in just four months-a feat that merely required lowering standards, fast-tracking barely vetted recruits, and turning availability into the primary eligibility requirement. That's an exaggeration, but hardly. More than doubling ICE's ranks has meant cutting training from 13 weeks to six, raising the maximum age cap from 40 to none at all, scrapping the college degree requirement, and adding a $50,000 signing bonus."

"Now pretty much anyone can become an ICE agent. And that's not just because of those lax standards, but also because DHS is apparently doing a piss-poor job of ensuring even those are met. A Slate journalist, for example, was offered an officer position despite their never submitting paperwork, taking the fitness test, passing drug screening, or undergoing a background check."

DHS claims to have hired more than 12,000 ICE officers and agents in four months by lowering recruitment standards and prioritizing availability over qualifications. Training was cut from 13 weeks to six, the maximum age cap was removed, the college degree requirement was scrapped, and a $50,000 signing bonus was added. Low standards and poor verification allowed some applicants to be offered positions without paperwork, fitness tests, drug screens, or background checks. A résumé-sorting AI mistakenly flagged many applicants as former law enforcement, placing them on a four-week online-only training track. Fatal uses of force by seasoned Border Patrol and ICE agents raise concern about expanded ranks.

Read at The Nation