Federal agency struggles to find recruits despite lower standards and a 'funding surge'

28 October

Kristi Noem at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 14, 2024 (Maxim Elramsisy/ Shutterstock.com)

During a recent opening sketch on "Saturday Night Live," two former cast members — Amy Poehler, the guest host, and Tina Fey — brutally mocked U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Poehler played Bondi, while Fey played Noem; during their parody, they lampooned ICE recruitment efforts and the Trump Administration's standards for new recruits.

Poehler and Fey weren't subtle, sending out a message that Trump officials, in their push to expand ICE, are lowering hiring standards considerably.

John Pfaff, a law professor at Fordham University in New York City, makes a similar argument in a scathing op-ed published by MSNBC on October 28.

Despite lowering its hiring standards and getting a "surge in funding," Pfaff laments, ICE is struggling to find as many recruits as Noem and President Donald Trump want to hire.

"One of the signature provisions of the giant spending bill that congressional Republicans passed back in July was an astounding increase in the budget for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE," Pfaff observes. "The bill allocated $170 billion over four years to the Department of Homeland Security, with $30 billion earmarked for ICE, making it arguably the most well-funded of all the federal law enforcement agencies. The surge in funding was intended in no small part to help ICE hire 10,000 more enforcement officers by the end of 2025, which if achieved, would more than double their numbers, from roughly 6000 to about 16,000."

Pfaff continues, "But just because an agency wants to increase staffing, that doesn't mean it will be able to do so easily, and I predicted back in July that ICE would likely struggle to meet this goal…. Moreover, the current surge in ICE hiring comes at a time when local police forces — many of which pay better, have better working conditions (such as staying close to home) and broader social support and respect — struggle, along with almost all other government agencies, to fill open positions."

ICE, Pfaff observes, is alienating police departments by urging police officers "to leave their current jobs to sign on" with the agency. And according to Pfaff, "many of the recruits ICE is getting are not up to the task."

"Compounding all of this is the fact that the goal is a net increase of 10,000 officers, and there are already growing reports of stress and burnout among ICE officers," the Fordham law professor laments. "And no wonder: they're often finding themselves deployed in cities that aggressively protest against them, and assigned to tasks — such as arresting day laborers outside of Home Depot — that pale in comparison to the overwrought rhetoric of saving the U.S. from murderers and terrorists…. None of this is to downplay the very real harm that ICE is doing. And while the low quality of ICE recruits is making it harder for them to hit their target, it also means that the ones they do hire are likely to be less qualified, and thus more likely to do even more harm when deployed."

Pfaff continues, "But it is clear that Trump and his immigration consigliere, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, hope to build up ICE as a way to strike out at Democratic cities, and the ongoing struggles to hire more people suggest that goal may prove elusive."

John Pfaff's full op-ed for MSNBC is available at this link.

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