ICE is scrambling to plug holes in its ranks, and critics say the rush is creating new ones. Under Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the agency allowed recruits to start training before full vetting was finished, only to discover later that some had failed drug tests, had disqualifying criminal histories, or could not meet basic fitness or academic standards, according to multiple reports.
One recruit at ICE’s academy in Brunswick, Georgia had previously been charged with strong arm robbery and battery tied to a domestic violence incident, a current DHS official told reporters. Another problem, officials said, was shockingly basic several recruits had not even submitted fingerprints, meaning standard background checks were incomplete when they arrived at the academy. “There is absolutely concern that some people are slipping through the cracks,” the official said.
Internal agency data reviewed by reporters paints a messy picture. Since a summer hiring surge began, more than 200 trainees have been dismissed in the middle of training. Fewer than ten were kicked out for criminal charges, drug tests, or safety concerns, while the vast majority washed out for failing to meet physical or academic benchmarks. That still leaves the core question on the table, why were candidates with clear red flags inside a federal law enforcement academy in the first place?
The department’s public line is that the alarm is overblown. “The figures you reference are not accurate and reflect a subset of candidates in initial basic academy classes,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, adding that the “vast majority of new officers” are prior law enforcement hires who follow a streamlined path but still face medical, fitness, and background requirements.
What no one disputes is the scale and speed of the recruitment drive. The administration is racing to add roughly 10,000 officers, sweetening the pot with signing bonuses reportedly up to $50,000 and widening the age window for applicants. At the same time, the training pipeline has been shortened, shrinking from 13 weeks to eight, then to six at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia. Critics say that’s a recipe for trouble if the screening and coursework are not airtight.
Those critics now include senior Democrats in Congress. Senator Dick Durbin warned Noem that loosening hiring standards and compressing training could fuel misconduct, drawing a direct line to earlier border enforcement hiring waves that produced scandals and oversight nightmares. He urged stepped-up congressional scrutiny of ICE’s hiring spree, arguing that accountability offices inside DHS have been weakened just as the force swells.
Supporters of the surge argue that most recruits are seasoned cops switching badges, and that ICE can both hire fast and keep standards high. But the headlines are doing the department no favors, stories about recruits failing open-book legal exams, others missing basic fitness marks, and a handful with criminal baggage getting inside the building, even briefly, undercut Noem’s claims that the system is humming.
The larger political stakes are obvious. If ICE is going to expand dramatically, it needs public confidence as much as manpower. That starts with the most basic test in law enforcement, do you know who you are putting in a badge and a gun? Right now, even DHS’s own data suggests the screening net is catching problems later than it should, and that’s a problem the agency cannot run out in six weeks of training.
