Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s race to add 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents has become a “circus” as sloppy vetting and massive bonuses have attracted a raft of bottom-of-the-barrel recruits—and even some suspected of having gang ties.
Noem, 54—dubbed “ICE Barbie” for staging glam raid photo-ops—boasted this week that her department will hit 10,000 new recruits within days.
But a Daily Mail investigation says the frantic push has produced recruits who have gone on to allegedly attack civilians and sexually assault female trainees, and others who can barely read or write. One case reportedly included a 469-pound man whose own doctor had already declared him unfit for physical activity.
“Anything that they think may have a pulse, they’re moving through,” one unnamed DHS official was quoted saying.
Vetting has allegedly been so rushed that, the Mail reports, recruits were flown to the training base in Glynco, Georgia, before drug-test results came back—only for some to test positive after they were already in training. One trainee reportedly asked to leave class to attend a court date on a gun charge. Others were found to have tattoos linked to gangs and white supremacist groups when they stripped down for workouts.
The DHS official told the Mail that, while there were some “fantastic” recruits, the department had been “bringing people in who shouldn’t be hired at all into any federal government job, definitely not one that has a badge and a gun.”
The official added, “We’re now employing people who are not equipped to tie their own shoelaces. This whole thing is a complete disaster from beginning to end.”
One young recruit—a college graduate hoping to follow his father, a deportation officer, into the job—told relatives the whole operation felt like a “circus.”
The Mail investigation comes after the Daily Beast reported last month that insiders felt the recruitment drive had become a full-blown “s–tshow,” with Noem’s job at risk as a result.
The Mail report says the “disaster” has come about because ICE slashed standards to meet President Donald Trump’s 10,000 target, dangling signing and retention bonuses of up to $50,000 that DHS touts on its recruitment site and job postings. Applicants no longer need a college degree and can now be as young as 18, while the Trump administration scrapped the upper age limit entirely in August.
According to internal figures cited by the outlet, hundreds of brand-new hires with no law-enforcement background have been rushed into the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Brunswick, Georgia, alongside older rehires pushed into desk jobs.
Instructors at the Georgia academy were left “astounded” as some trainees who “can barely read or write English” bombed open-book exams and struggled to complete basic physical training. One incredulous DHS source told the Beast: “A 469-pound recruit? Are they gonna roll him down a hill?”
Internal records show 584 recruits have already washed out of the academy since July, according to the report, with fewer than 558 graduating and around 620 still in the pipeline as of Dec. 1.
By the Mail’s account, that is despite some courses being shortened to as little as six weeks—down from the 16 weeks that were once standard—while ICE slashed a five-week Spanish module in favor of translation gadgets.
Discipline problems have followed. The Mail describes one 29-year-old recruit being arrested off-site after allegedly exploding at a FLETC bus driver and smashing his phone. Another man was accused of barging into a women’s dorm after a night at the bar, while a second allegedly groped a female trainee during defensive-tactics class.
The Beast also previously revealed that waves of re-hired agents arrived at ICE offices before badges, guns, or computer access were even ready, with some highly paid veteran returnees doing little more than paperwork in return for more than $250,000-a-year once bonuses and pensions are included.
The Mail’s revelations are likely to pile fresh pressure on Noem. CNN reported last month that Noem and her influential adviser and rumored lover, Corey Lewandowski, 52, are seen as “increasingly vulnerable” inside the West Wing—leaving senior DHS officials whispering to the Beast that they may be “not long for this world.”
DHS insists it is maintaining rigorous standards while answering Trump’s call for 3,000 deportations a day, pointing to more than 200,000 applications and arguing that technology and field mentoring will plug any training gaps.
The department declined to comment on the Mail investigation. The Daily Beast has also attempted to contact DHS for comment.
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