this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2026
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I skipped the steps of the application process that would have clued the agency in on my lack of fitness for the position. I made no effort to hide my public loathing of the agency, what it stands for, and the administration that runs it. And they offered me the job anyway.

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[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Unfortunate paywall. I was actually enjoying that article.

[–] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 47 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Here's sort of the punchline near the end:

“Please note that this is a TENTATIVE offer only, therefore do not end your current employment,” the email instructed me. It then listed a series of steps I’d need to quickly take. I had 48 hours to log onto USAJobs and fill out my Declaration for Federal Employment, then five additional days to return the forms attached to the email. Among these forms: driver’s license information, an affidavit that I’ve never received a domestic violence conviction, and consent for a background check. And it said: “If you are declining the position, it is not necessary to complete the action items listed below.”

As I mentioned, I’d missed the email, so I did exactly none of these things.

And that might have been where this all ended—an unread message sinking to the bottom of my inbox—if not for an email LabCorp sent three weeks later. “Thank you for confirming that you wish to continue with the hiring process,” it read. (To be clear, I had confirmed no such thing.) “Please complete your required pre-employment drug test.”

The timing was unfortunate. Cannabis is legal in the state of New York, and I had partaken six days before my scheduled test. Then again, I hadn’t smoked much; perhaps with hydration I could get to the next stage. Worst-case scenario, I’d waste a small piece of ICE’s gargantuan budget. I traveled to my local LabCorp, peed in a cup, and waited for a call telling me I’d failed.

Nine days later, impatience got the best of me. For the first time, I logged into USAJobs and checked my application to see if my drug test had come through. What I actually saw was so implausible, so impossible, that at first I did not understand what I was looking at.

Somehow, despite never submitting any of the paperwork they sent me—not the background check or identification info, not the domestic violence affidavit, none of it—ICE had apparently offered me a job.

According to the application portal, my pre-employment activities remained pending. And yet, it also showed that I had accepted a final job offer and that my onboarding status was “EOD”—Entered On Duty, the start of an enlistment period. I moused over the exclamation mark next to “Onboarding” and a helpful pop-up appeared. “Your EOD has occurred. Welcome to ICE!”

I clicked through to my application tracking page. They’d sent my final offer on Sept. 30, it said, and I had allegedly accepted. “Welcome to Ice. … Your duty location is New York, New York. Your EOD was on Tuesday, September 30th, 2025.”

By all appearances, I was a deportation officer. Without a single signature on agency paperwork, ICE had officially hired me.

[–] Mirshe@lemmy.world 30 points 1 month ago

I'm sure they're being pushed to not decline ANYONE. You aren't hiring the numbers they want to hire if you decline anyone with a pulse and the ability to hold a firearm.

[–] IamSparticles@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Interesting. Apparently the recruiters are gaming the system, too. They're probably getting a piece of that sweet-sweet signing bonus.

[–] dermanus@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Knowing this admin they're probably using the stick, not the carrot. We know the agents themselves have quotas, I'd be surprised if the recruiters didn't.

[–] IamSparticles@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago

Fair point. That is another possible explanation.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Wait they Dont hire people with domestic violence convictions? The way they operate I thought it was an requirement.

[–] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 14 points 1 month ago

Somehow, despite never submitting any of the paperwork they sent me—not the background check or identification info, not the domestic violence affidavit, none of it—ICE had apparently offered me a job

I think you missed the key line. Perhaps they care about the optics of it and include that as part of the paperwork (granted, that's perhaps a holdover from previous administrations), but they don't actually care about how you fill it out (or in this case, not fill it out).

[–] Nollij@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 month ago

It just said to submit an affidavit (meaning you can lie, but they can retaliate against you later). If they were serious, it would say that DV shows up on the background report and would disqualify you

[–] Sabata11792@ani.social 2 points 1 month ago

So it sounds like if they got 100,000 totally real applications in 30 seconds, they would be confused why everyone no called no shows on the next siege.