The People Applying For ICE Jobs Are Exactly Who You Think They Are
from the brain-stem-geniuses dept
ICE just isn’t getting the job done. Despite the masked men swarming everywhere to arrest every Mexican-looking person in sight, the agency still can’t meet the 3,000 arrests per day quota that White House advisor Stephen Miller has stated is merely the baseline for his expectations.
The main reason for this is that we’re running out of immigrants to arrest. The pretense of ejecting “criminal” migrants from the nation was abandoned the first time Trump held office, due to the fact that migrants commit fewer crimes than natural-born citizens. The administration claims there have been 1.6 million “self-deportations” since Trump took office, which means there are even fewer people to arrest, no matter how aggressively ICE acts. Going after everyone and swarming the streets with federal officers and military troops hasn’t resulted in a massive increase in arrests — something ICE has recently decided to blame on a lack of officers, despite being massively over-funded.
To that end, ICE has taken the age caps off the hiring process, allowing people as young as 18 and as old as time itself to apply for open positions. It has also thrown a $50,000 signing bonus into the mix, which is now cannibalizing local law enforcement agencies who simply don’t have billions of federal dollars to throw at recruits.
ICE also enticed actor Dean Cain to remind everyone he’s still alive by producing a PSA for ICE and its hiring push. Obviously, the man who once portrayed America’s most famous immigrant (Superman) is now claiming he’s joining ICE, which is having an effect on the most irony-proof people in our nation: ICE applicants.
NPR went to a DHS hiring fair and interviewed some of the people applying for one of (allegedly) 10,000 open ICE positions. The administration needs as many boots (and masked faces) on the ground as possible if it’s ever going to come within a third of its stated goal of 1,000,000 arrests per year. Fortunately, this nation has a surplus of flunkies, some of whom shared their motivations with NPR as they applied open Gestapo-esque thug positions.
Ana Maria Vargas, 52, a correctional officer in Arizona, applied to be a deportation officer.
“I saw … the guy that played Superman on the TV series so many years ago,” Vargas said. “A lot of us still have the desire and want to serve our country, yet we don’t know how to get into it because of the age restrictions.”
Vargas said she wants to “take out the bad guys,” though she acknowledged “there are a lot of good people that are here. However, they are here illegally.”
Law enforcement officer? Check. Saw that Superman guy? Check. Thinks chasing day laborers through Home Deport parking lots is “taking out the bad guys?” Check. Says there are “good people” caught up in this mess but still thinks the “good people” should be ejected along with the “bad guys?” Check. Vargas wants to be the negative change she wishes to see in the world. And ICE might pay her $50,000 just for signing up because she’s definitely the sort of person it wants to add to its force: someone who thinks ICE is good, Superman guy is inspiring, and doesn’t have the sort of moral clarity that might result in second thoughts or immediate resignation.
Here’s another applicant interviewed by NPR:
Andrea Alexander, an attorney living in Utah, came to apply for the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, the branch of ICE that argues immigration cases in immigration court. She learned of ICE’s recruitment efforts from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s social media.
“I love Trump. I love his administration. I think he’s going to save our country,” Alexander said, adding that those applying to be deportation officers should likely believe in the mission as well. “They probably have to be true believers for the front line because they have to be ready to catch a lot of flak right now.”
Do I even need to comment? I mean, this is a person who willingly follows Stephen Miller’s X account. That person was always in the bag for bigotry and fascism. Knowing some legal terms probably helps, but just knowing some legal stuff doesn’t always make you a good fit for a job, as plenty of Trump appointees have found out while getting mowed down by federal court judges or just leaving their asses hanging all the way out when angling for unjustified indictments.
Another applicant is just the sort of opportunist someone like Trump would admire:
He said he was on the right of the political spectrum and that the hiring bonuses and increased media attention on the agency drew his attention.
“I think there’s way too many illegal immigrants here,” he said, noting that if he gets the job, he hopes he gets to deport people.
“I don’t believe in much but I have a red hat and I don’t like people who aren’t white. Also: I like money.” What a piece of shit.
Also contributing to this: a former Army officer who thinks his experience with “detainee operations” (let that one simmer for a bit…) would be useful to ICE. And another veteran who doesn’t want to do anything more than speed up the delivery of his government pension:
“I want to go back into federal service … and retire earlier than have to start a whole another career with a state or county agency,” he said, noting he is interested in Border Patrol, Secret Service and ICE.
Not everyone is the cliche you expect. One applicant was a person laid off during the DOGE purge who simply wants to get back to the government position they held before Trump returned to the Oval Office. Another person was already an immigration officer who was just hoping for a better paying job in the same field.
But, for the most part, it’s the people you expect them to be, which means they’re the people this administration wants: applicants whose motivation goes beyond the unexpected opportunity and into the general “kick all the immigrants out” mission ICE is in the process of undertaking. It’s people who haven’t thought about any of this past the brims of their MAGA hats or who can be so impressed by a Hollywood has-been they’re willing to roll the dice on a $50,000 signing bonus, even if it means “good people” will be negatively affected by their actions. And if you’re hurting people you consider to be “good” just because the pay is high enough, you have to know what that makes you. Right?
Filed Under: dhs, ice, lowering standards, mass deportation, trump administration
Comments on “The People Applying For ICE Jobs Are Exactly Who You Think They Are”
I wonder if they’d notice if someone collected the signing bonus and then just didn’t show up.
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That kind of stupidity might be de rigueur for Trump, but typically a signing bonus is granted after completion of a probationary period. HR does anticipate that kind of thing happening so will demand a period of service.
ICE is looking to hire 10,000 people and has received more than 150,000 applications, so it’ll be tight, and only the
bestworst will be hire. Maybe even “the worst of the worst”.Re:
That is baked into the design. Paul Krugman coined something called Arendt’s Law, naming it after Hannah Arendt who noted that authoritarian governments discourage talent and expertise and want gaggles of loyal fools whose foolishness and loyalty are their only assets. The Krugman variant of it is that loyal fools are the only people Trump wants because no one can be better at anything than the supreme leader.
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‘Patriotic, hard-working Americans looking to earn an honest living while defending their Homeland from hordes of foreign invaders’?
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Keep telling yourself that. Self-delusion is the prime characteristic of the modern conservative.
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Lazy and fat child rapists more likely.
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You seem like the kind of person who would watch the mass murder of people of color and laugh about it.
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Brainwashed, gullible, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
isnt it funny
A nation challenging the 1-5% of Multiple groups?
So how many Gardeners, Carpenters, Gay and Strange are you planning to get rid of, JUST to make more jobs?
Do you know the problem have having Kids Mow lawns? The Kid didnt Buy the mower/weed eater, NOR the Fuel/oil and INSURANCE if the kid gets hurt, or the ROCK fly’s and Hits something.
Corps have been Cutting personnel Since the Start of 1990, WHATS LEFT to Cut? Does not mean there are more jobs.
Once they Cut Enough they had to goto Raising Price Again and Again. YOU WONT find a $1 Chicken at the store anymore. Not to Add the Roasted Chickens being ??? How Much?
Who are you going to get, to Pick Grapes? Strawberries, and many other JOBS you like.
They’re MAGA, of course they’re assholes and morons. There’s no other way to be a craft/technician/contractor/etc. and vote for someone who’s standard business practice was to fuck over those people to escape their legal obligations. Or to be a Christian, and vote for a philandering pedo, that hates Jesus. Or in the Armed Forces and vote for someone with four deferments and bone spurs.
MAGA is as fucking dumb and hostile as they come.
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America does have a divorced dad problem.
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And Elon Musk is responsible for at least a quarter of it. The man has so much Divorced Dad energy that if harnessing it were possible, he could power an entire state for at least a month.
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Sadly, it would power data centers and crypto mines and the rest of the state would go dark.
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It’s no surprise that a dude with 14(?) kids with 4 women is peak divorced dad energy.
Like with the police, the good ones won’t last. You either become the Gestapo, or the Gestapo eats you alive.
And remember, “just following orders” is never an excuse.
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“Gestapo” lol.
Get a grip.
Your hyperbole doesn’t work.
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Let’s see…fully armed and fully masked agents of the federal government, who ostensibly answer to a direct lieutenant of the government’s central authority figure, are going into buildings and arresting people (including children!) who said authority figure considers “undesirable” to have in “his” country.
They may not be the Gestapo, but they’re damn close to it.
And yes, people who are in the country illegally are still people, even if you and Trump don’t like that fact because it prevents ICE agents from doing what they and Trump really want to done to those people (including children!), which is “on-site extrajudicial executions”.
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It’s not hyperbole, perhaps that’s why it isn’t working for you.
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Get a grip.
Sorry, you’re right – they’re not Gestapo.
They’re home-grown, white trash rednecks, whose idea of ‘inner city crime’ is staking out Lowes’ at 6am. Pieces of shit like that could ONLY be made in amerika.
Re: Daniel Jonah Goldhagen enters the chat
Hitler’s willing executioners were willing.
Fork found in kitchen
The solution is simple: deport Stephen Miller.
(Of course, they’d have to find a country that’s willing to take him.)
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To the sun. With a cannon.
… is going to get deported by the anonymous “I just want to deport people” agent and earn him a nice Christmas 2026 bonus when the pickings get slim and she becomes “Mexican enough” for this administration.
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First they came for the immigrants and I said something, but it didn’t matter because the people in power don’t listen to dissent, except to find their next target.
Then they came for the true believers who thought they were in the in-crowd but turned out to be expendable useful idiots with delicious faces for the hungry leopards.
tech sites have turned into opinion podiums
Anyone else feeling worn down by the constant political opinions being expressed on supposedly ‘technology focused’ sites. We have so few sources of real technology news, now that they are all filled with an echo chamber of personal opinion.
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Tech has always been political. If you didn’t notice that, that’s on you. Technology can be used as a tool for freedom or a tool for oppression. It is wielded by liberty-loving folks and by those who pretend to love liberty while tightening down the locks on freedom.
Which is better, the federal government doing nothing to enforce the rule of law, or the government incompetently enforcing the rule of law? At least this government really tries to enforce the rule of law. This we didn’t see with Biden. Immigrant laws should be respected. The immigrant laws are there for good reasons. Illegal immigrants are lawbreakers by definition and thus do not speak well of their respect for the law. They may not be criminals but they certainly have a share in creating disorder like other people with lack of respect for the law. They have no right to be in the country and should be kicked out. Legal immigrants are welcome, but illegal immigrants are not welcome, and this message the government should be sending out. This message we don’t hear from the Democrats. Lack of respect for the law breeds more lack of respect for the law and that why we have so much disorder in this country, and I blame the Democrats for the source of the disorder. The corrupt local Democrat authorities should be respecting the rule of law in the first place. They are the real problem. Thus the need for a leader like Trump to shake up things and if he ignores the law to do it, so be it, fair is fair. That’s on the Democrats.
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Most importantly, this is a false dilemma. These aren’t the only two options. It’s possible to competently enforce the rule of law and not violent human, civil, and constitutional rights. Pretending it’s do nothing or commit brutal violations is disingenuous. It also says a lot if you honestly think that rule of law can’t be enforced competently by the current administration.
…by violating the Constitution, the Hatch Act, anti-corruption laws, anti-partisan laws, Posse Comitatus, Habeas Corpus, etc. et al. You’re focusing on one kind of law being “enforced” while it’s used as an excuse to do far worse.
According to Fox News.
They aren’t “immigrant laws.” They’re immigration laws. And many people getting brutalized, arrested, and deported have followed them.
This is a purely subjective statement. It’s only for good reasons if you are xenophobic or misunderstand the value of immigrants to a country built on immigration.
This isn’t actually true. That you think this shows you haven’t actually looked into the legality of it. Many immigrants have over stayed a visa, which is only a civil offense, similar to a parking violation. “Illegal immigrant” isn’t even a legal term. That’s just a word you’ve been fed repeatedly.
Again, you’re flying your ignorance here. Immigrants are statistically less likely to commit crimes than citizens. And many who are getting deported came here legally and were pursuing legal avenues to residency and citizenship.
This is just a weird vague claim. Like what other people? ICE agents? They’re creating a lot of disorder right now. They don’t respect the law or rights. Are those the other people you were referring to, or was there some other group you have prejudice for that you were dog whistling about?
Another subjective perspective. Many are asylum seekers who otherwise would have a legal right to remain except that the Trump administration doesn’t respect legal rights.
You’re pretending the Trump administration hasn’t targeted citizens and legal immigrants. Or you’re ignorant, which is maybe worse.
Actually you would have heard it from many Democrats if you hadn’t been watching Fox News. Obama and Biden did deport a lot of immigrants. It was something they were criticized for by people further left of them.
That’s a convenient belief that relieves Trump and his sycophants of any responsibility for systemically hacking at the core of our society and legal norms and enumerated rights. It’s definitely the Democrats fault despite Trump being in power for the second time. Despite Republicans gerrymandering and voter suppressing their way to Congressional majorities. Despite SCOTUS having a 6-3 regressive majority.
Democratic is the proper adjective for officials in the Democratic Party. Democrat is a noun. Local and state officials aren’t specifically not supposed to enforce immigration laws, which is under the purview of the federal government. So you’re actually disrespecting the rule of law by calling for local authorities to step on the toes of the federal government. But the hypocrisy, ignorance, and cognitive dissonance are always a feature, not a bug, isn’t it?
Holy fuck. This is the language of abusers and authoritarians! “It’s okay for Trump, who is wielding unconstitutional power to brutalize American citizens and immigrants alike, to ignore the law I pretend to value so much because I perceive other people don’t respect the law.” I can’t parody this. Batshit is less insane than this.
Re: Re: Wow, longer then 1 of mine.
There is something to what you say, but have you looked up the History of things, Wars, Taking over countries, Instigation of things the USA has done to South America??
Then Add the corps to the mix, trying to STEAL the oil down there for years.
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Most importantly, this is a false dilemma. These aren’t
the only two options. It’s possible to competently enforce
the rule of law and not violent human, civil, and
constitutional rights. Pretending it’s do nothing or
commit brutal violations is disingenuous. It also says a
lot if you honestly think that rule of law can’t be
enforced competently by the current administration.
Strawman is also a fallacy. You are grossly misrepresentating what I said and attacking something I didn’t say or would agree with. It’s not options I talk about, it’s choice. Would you pick the Biden government or pick the Trump government? There’s no other viable choice sadly in America’s lame two-party system. Do I honestly believe that rule of law can’t be enforced competently by the current adminstration? No, clearly Trump can do much better as this article shows. But you are missing the point. Even if he doesn’t- which is the lesser evil? It’s not just the Republicans who think the means justify the ends. This began with the corrupt Democratic authorities ignoring the rule of law in the first place. This fact I notice you do not acknowledge and ignore. The problem can’t be fixed if you ignore the root of it.
You are focusing on some laws being ignored by one side while ignoring other side ignoring the laws in the first place. You are guilty of this sin. You can not accuse me of hypocrisy when you are also hypocritical. I don’t think you have the moral high ground to throw stones. That why I am trying to point out in the first place with the Techdirt article. It is not very balanced and very partisan when it doesn’t even mention about the root problem. It is also matter of interpretation about what you say about laws being violated. Some of that are not settled by courts yet. I think people are amplifying the issue and getting hysterical over laws being ignored while ignoring the root problem which is the local authorities ignoring the law in the first place. They are not being genuine about laws being ignored when they don’t address about laws being ignored in the first place that brought on all this mess. I call this hypocrisy. I don’t agree with Trump but I can understand the frustrations of people when they complain about the rule of the law being not applied in the case of immigration, and why they do not care if Trump breaks some eggshells in doing something about it, and I have sympathy for them, even if you don’t.
When you assume, you make an ass out of u. You are certainly making yourself look like an ass. I don’t watch Fox News and don’t care what it says. This is a very ignorant statement. It is well established that the Biden administration has a very mixed record over immigration and this is a big political issue that drove some voters to Trump. This information can be got from multiple sources including Wikipedia. There is an Wikipedia article called Immigration policy of the Biden administration I can refer to you so you fix your ignorance.
Thank for correcting me. Obviously English is not my native language and I don’t express it regularly so my memory slips me sometimes. So what? People are getting brutalized even for not breaking laws by police. Police brutality is a sad fact of life in America, it doesn’t make enforcement of laws wrong or the laws wrong. Why single out immigration laws? Police even murdered a man for passing out a counterfeit bill a few years ago.
Again with the strawman and assuming. You look more and more of an ass. I understand perfectly the value of immigrants to a country built on immigration. I see everyday stuff immigrants built. I embrace well-regulated immigration. It is unregulated immigration that I don’t embrace. You are indeed ignorant if you think the immigration laws are about xenophobia. It’s a fact of life that unregulated immigration brings on a couple of social problems, including housing, employment, and social services systems getting overtaxed. That why we have immigration laws.
Wow, again with the assuming. And you are lying. Title 8 US Code mentions “illegal immigrant” 6 times. It’s a valid legal term in the U.S. I point you to the U.S. section in Wikipedia entry “Illegal immigration” so you can fix your pathetic ignorance and stop with the lying. A civil offence is a breach of law and therefore illegal.
There is a lot of to say about the rest, but you accuse me of dogwhistling, of prejudice, of watching Fox News, and so on without basis. You make up crap about me and what I say and am about. So I’m done with your ignorant bigotry. You engage in strawman,whataboutism, and poisoning the well. Don’t be such an ass.
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So you’re an immigrant who supports Trump’s effort to kick out immigrants? This just got weirder and worse. You realize Trump isn’t just targeting undocumented immigrants, right? He’s going after legal residents, naturalized citizens, and even birthright citizenship. You’re supporting leopards who are definitely going to eat your face.
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How were they corrupt and what laws did they ignore? Be specific.
And regarding corruption and ignoring laws, the Democrats are toddlers compared to the current crop of Republicans which makes me ask: Why is it that you only call the Democrats corrupt?
You try so hard to sound reasonable, but from how you write it’s clear you are cheering the current administration on in their effort to break the country and I’ll note that something that always will be true: Two wrongs never make something right, and cheering such actions on is the hallmark of someone who lack ethics and morals, or possible they are just a fucking idiot.
So take your talk about others being hypocrites and show it, because the biggest hypocrite here is you for the simple reason that you don’t actually give a damn about laws being broken if it is done by the “right” people.
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Two men are standing on a street corner, one white and one Latino. One of the men is in the country illegally, and ICE comes to pick up that man while he’s standing on that street corner. The Latino man is ziptied, black-bagged, and taken into a nearby van to be processed for deportation.
The white guy was a Danish immigrant who had overstayed his student visa. The Latino guy was born in the States to American citizens.
The problem isn’t with immigration laws per se, but with their racist-ass enforcement by people who believe “the Great Replacement” and Trump’s orders have given them free reign to arrest anyone with a skin color darker than alabaster. I’m in favor of reforming immigration and enforcing current immigration laws. I’m not in favor of enforcing the law using the methods ICE has been using since Trump gave them carte blanche to go apeshit on brown people.
Also: For someone who offhandedly admits Republicans are horrible people, you sure do a lot of “look what you made us do” shittalking towards Democrats while refusing to shittalk Republicans beyond “they’re reacting to Democrat failures and therefore have no agency of their own, but yeah, they maybe kinda suck, I guess”.
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This is also seen in the way people “support” cops by justifying brutality with statements like “you ran from the cops, what did you expect?!?” as if cops are rabid dogs that can’t be expected to respect human rights. If that were the case, they shouldn’t be cops, but it’s never the cops’ fault. It’s always the suspect’s fault.
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Always good when a leader sets the example for everyone to follow, isn’t it?
You are one of the reasons the country is going to shit, uneducated and stupid with no moral qualms at all to shit all over the Constitution. Have you applied to ICE yet? Seems you’ll fit right in there with your willingness to break laws and violate people’s rights.
Re: Re: REal PROBELMS
Seem to Be enforcement of Crimes by the larger Corps, as well as the Stock exchange Being ABUSED all to hell, the reason for that is the corps have More lawyers, and Anything they do ABOUT the Stocks would be in Courts for `00 years.
Then you must understand that the State and fed have the same Big problem. Over time there Are Jobs that SHOULD have more persons in it, LIKE JUDGES. Probably about the same number as about 100 years ago. There is Much reasoning when it takes 1 year to get into Court.
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What strain are you smoking? That must be some EXPENSIVE shit.
One has to wonder how many of these assclowns are going to put their ICE time on any resume moving forward.
Personally, I’d hire a hundred ex-cons before CONSIDERING anyone who chose to strap on the jackboots.
GOP JOBS PROGRAMS
bush/cheney’s only jobs program: Iraq War
dump’s only jobs program: his private fascism army