President Donald Trump’s push to rapidly expand ICE is running into a basic problem, too many new hires cannot pass the entry fitness test, and some reportedly misrepresented their condition to get in the door. An internal scramble is now underway at ICE training, where officials are sorting who can be reassigned to desk duty and who will be cut loose.
The Atlantic reported that more than a third of recruits at the academy are failing minimal standards, a bar that includes 15 push-ups, 32 sit-ups, and a 1.5-mile run in 14 minutes. The outlet also cited an internal email lamenting a wave of “athletically allergic” candidates showing up to training, language that has since ricocheted across DHS. The Department pushed back on the overall framing, saying the “vast majority” of current hires are experienced officers who still must clear medical, fitness, and background checks.
Behind the scenes, field directors are dealing with the messy fallout. According to The Atlantic’s account, some recruits received conditional offers before clearing even light exercise benchmarks, forcing managers to seek guidance on whether those offers can be revoked. Attorneys advised them to reassign failing candidates to administrative tasks while HR handles terminations, a process one senior official described as “a disaster.”
ICE’s own public materials shows why the test matters. The agency’s published physical fitness standards emphasize push-ups and a 1.5-mile run, and describe the test as a timed, pass-fail screen tied to the physical demands of enforcement work. Even with periodic updates to the numbers, the core expectations remain consistent with law enforcement norms that require baseline strength and cardiovascular capacity.
The Atlantic’s scoop sparked a same-day response cycle. DHS officials disputed some figures while not denying the email language, and reiterated that the surge will rely heavily on lateral hires, who are exempt from repeating academy basics yet remain subject to medical and background validation. The agency also instructed field offices to conduct preliminary fitness checks before shipping recruits to Georgia, an attempt to stop the bleeding in real time.
The fitness flap lands as a broader fight over standards plays out across the security apparatus. In a separate development last week, several Texas National Guard members deployed to Chicago were sent home for failing to meet fitness benchmarks, drawing public cheers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a promise that “standards are back.” State and national outlets reported that a small group of roughly 200 troops did not pass validation and were replaced. Whatever the politics, the signal from the top is clear, there is little tolerance for cutting corners on physical readiness.
For ICE, the immediate question is whether the agency can hit hiring goals without sacrificing basic capability. The Atlantic’s reporting suggests the academy is already strained by onboarding recruits who cannot meet entry-level fitness, while Newsweek’s write-up quotes DHS insisting that most hires come from seasoned ranks.
If the goal is to field thousands of deportation officers by early next year, the fix is not rhetorical. It is practical, verify fitness up front, keep standards legible and consistent, and avoid putting unprepared recruits on a path that ends with a pink slip.
