SerpApi.Org
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
ICE officers described the agency as a “powder keg ready to blow” in a new lengthy report that includes accusations of pushing untrained officers onto the streets and pushing employees to exhaustion.
The Washington Examiner’s Anna Giaritelli and Christian Datoc reported on Wednesday — citing “current ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers, as well as retired senior ICE officials still dialed into daily operations” — that morale at ICE has fallen “lower” than it was under former President Joe Biden.
“No one is happy. If you hear [Border Czar] Tom Homan saying, ‘Morale’s stronger than ever,’ I say, ‘No, it’s not. No, it’s not.’ I see it. I’ve been out in the field. I see it. I’ve seen senior officers quit,” one ICE officer told the outlet.
Another officer with more than a decade of experience said people are “being pushed to a breaking point. I don’t know where it will go, but it’s nowhere good.”
That officer actually supported President Donald Trump and his deportation policies in the 2024 election.
“Many on the right will think this is an attack on Trump,” the officer said. “I voted for Trump this time around. I believe in immigration enforcement. But man, it’s so disorganized and chaotic. I’ve talked to many officers who said that at least [former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas] showed appreciation by giving us admin leave.”
Sources described the situation at ICE and the Department of Homeland Security as “disorganized and chaotic” and were “likening the situation to a powder keg ready to blow.”
Officers red-flagged younger officers being put on the street without “adequate training” and before their background checks are complete. ICE currently has approximately 6,000 officers working in immigration enforcement and 10,000 in the process of being trained. Officers said they are regularly forced to work more than their required hours, and are called in on their days off while having time off requests denied.
According to the report, “officers with significant experience are being ‘shielded’ from going out and making arrests, according to one officer. Instead, ICE is pushing the new recruits into the street as opposed to desk work.”
“That creates a lot of bad calls out in the field,” an ICE officer said.
The accusations follow two fatal shootings by immigration officers in Texas and Maine, which has critics questioning ICE’s use of traffic stops. Deportation efforts were also put under the microscope after Americans citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis.
One immigration officer in Texas claimed that the office officials work out of doesn’t even have a bathroom, requiring employees to use nearby facilities and walk through anti-ICE protesters.
“We would have to walk to a nearby business establishment to use the restroom, sometimes having to walk past protesters,” said the same officer. “The media and the public typically demonizes ICE. Meanwhile, our employees are also being treated like crap from management and from this administration,” the officer said.
DHS responded to the claims in a statement denying that leave time was being denied and blaming low morale on Democratic pushback to ICE’s deportation efforts.
A spokesperson for the department said:
The worst thing for morale is sanctuary politicians’ constant smears against ICE including likening them to the gestapo, slave patrols, and secret police. This type of rhetoric is contributing to our officers facing coordinated campaigns of violence against them including a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them, 3,300% increase in vehicle attacks, and an 8,000% increase in death threats. President Trump and Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin will always stand with our ICE law enforcement officers.
Check out the full report here.
The post ICE Officers Reveal to Conservative Outlet Morale Under Trump Has Dropped Below Biden Years: ‘Powder Keg Ready to Blow’ first appeared on Mediaite.
