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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[–] IamSparticles@lemmy.zip 241 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I found this bit very telling:

The officer ran down other departments I might end up in: Prosecutions, Removal Coordination Unit, or Detention. The point being that I should not expect to be a badass street officer on Day 1. “I have so many guys that come over to me, they’re like, ‘I’m gonna put cuffs on somebody. I’m gonna arrest somebody.’ Well, you need to master this first and then we’ll see about getting you on the field.”

I told him that I was fine with office work—with my analyst background, it seemed like a better fit for my skill set anyway. His attitude shift was subtle, but instant and unmistakable; this was the wrong attitude and the wrong answer. “Just to be upfront, the goal is to put as many guns and badges out in the field as possible,” he said.

"Don't expect to be beating heads on day one. But if beating heads isn't what you're signing up for, you're probably not who we want."

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 90 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

The agent then told me a bit about his own background. Like me, he enlisted straight out of high school, then got out and vowed to get as far away from the violence of the military as possible. Like a lot of veterans, he had trouble assimilating into the civilian world. “After about six months, I was like, ‘These people aren’t like me. I want to be around like-minded people.’ ” He found his way into law enforcement.

This also stood out to me. People ive had discussions with have often tried to argue that the military is not as bad and that ACAB doesnt apply to military veterans. Fuck no. Active military deployment turns people into fucking ghouls that are incompatible with society. Some people turning out well (like the author) is just the exception to the rule.

[–] 7101334@lemmy.world 70 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

They aren't ghouls, they're victims. They can be, and often are, victimizers as well. Most people join the military because they're broke and desperate. Have some class solidarity.

Now the people who join the military just to go shoot someone in the Middle East (or soon South America maybe), yeah, they can get thrown into the meat grinder.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I agree, that they are also victims. Ideally they would get the help they need, but realistically thats not happening so we have no choice but distance us from them, lest we become victims too.

[–] 7101334@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

That's an insane and inhumane stance which could be equally applied to mentally ill / developmentally challenged people in many cases. The price of community is inconvenience. We aren't only meant to protect and take care of people when it's comfortable for us.

Now if we're talking about living with someone with PTSD who waves a gun at you or hits you, for sure, get yourself out of that situation for your own wellbeing. But there's a lot of room between "Calling them ghouls and exiling them from polite society" versus "Avoiding becoming a victim of their violence", especially when they aren't all violent.

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[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 45 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Active military deployment turns people into fucking ghouls that are incompatible with society

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[–] Branch_Ranch@lemmy.world 41 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

2x Combat vet here. Yeah, you're not wrong. I have grown to despise many of the guys I've deployed with. I see their posts on FB and am to the point I really want to call them out and publicly shame them. I feel like I'm a unicorn, I've gotten more and more leftie as I get older and have shunned my military past. Just my two cents. Fuck trump and fuck ICE.

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[–] grue@lemmy.world 152 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

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.

That is far better than I expected, not worse. Hopefully there are enough of such folks that we can get some internal resistance going.

[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 62 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yup. If I get fired I'm definitely applying and they'll regret hiring me.

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 94 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (10 children)

Things ICE agents shouldn't do:

  • Download a virus on work computer
  • Accidentally drop cell keys into detainee areas
  • LSD in office coffee machine
  • Crash patrol vehicle into ocean
  • Arrest spouses of other ICE agents
  • Arrest all of Trump's wives
  • Racially profile Kash Patel
  • Irrigate ammo storage areas
  • Disco Elysium stuff
  • Break into empty buildings with absentee landowners and leave them open.
  • Fake your arrest numbers
  • Deport MAGA immigrants
[–] jayambi@lemmy.world 22 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

asking for a friendv does the LSD in the coffee machine work? i mean doesn't it get burned or damaged?

[–] interrobang@lemmy.blahaj.zone 36 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Good question, I looked and it is unstable at higher temps!

Ketamine, however, is higher-temp stable ;)

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Good point. Only put LSD in a cold pot. I thought ergot survived baking but maybe there's something that stabilizes LSD in that situation.

[–] jayambi@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

cold brew coffee anyone?

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[–] 7101334@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yes, it works, but also yes, high temps will destroy LSD. So if it was a brand-new-scalding-hot pot, it would probably degrade. Would you still feel it? Idk. If it's a lukewarm pot though, you'll probably trip just fine.

For informational purposes only, obviously.

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[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I dunno about giving a bunch of unknowingly LSD who also happen to have access to guns and the ability to destroy lives. Seems like a bad idea.

Now laxaitives or sediatives, that's a different story. Cna't shoot innocent people if you're too busy shitting on the toilet or asleep at the wheel.

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[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 32 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The point was that they clearly aren't checking up on anyone they hire. Meaning literal nazis can easily get in without anyone noticing or caring.

[–] 7101334@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

...I mean that implies they wouldn't hire Nazis if they were screening.

America inspired the Nazis. This is nothing new. Our country is founded on genocide and built by slavery. The only reason decorum has been maintained as long as it has is because the propaganda/distraction machine worked so well until they broke it on Israel and forgetting to give people enough money to eat.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Not really, it implies they have plausible deniability because they can just pretend a "mistake" like that is a one off, if discovered. "Oh whoopsy, one slipped through!"

[–] 7101334@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

The LA Sherriff's Department was revealed to have gangs in their ranks which would go out and party and get commemorative gang tattoos after they killed their first person.

Basically nothing happened as a result.

You drastically overestimate the extent to which there is oversight or accountability for any so-called 'law enforcement' in this country.

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[–] BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 weeks ago

My thinking as well...

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 89 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Let’s say a local police officer arrests someone out in the field for a DUI. Extremely common. Or beating their wife or whatever—all the typical crimes they commit,” he said.

Are we talking about immigrants or cops?

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 38 points 2 weeks ago

D.U.I and wife beating are time honored cop activities, they have to be talking about cops for sure.

[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago

Cops, it's always projection with MAGA.

[–] nowwhernews@lemmy.world 85 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)
[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 36 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

I read just yesterday in a differen... wait, it was Ken Klippenstein, here it is - anyhow, DHS employees (I guess even some of the newly hired ICE goons) just don't want to do this shit anymore, but The Don said MOAR so they are scrambling to get people to do the dirtiest work.

edit: it appears the article is about last autumn, so what I quoted is not directly connected but still of interest

[–] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 17 points 2 weeks ago

The Border Patrol agent said that while a significant minority of his colleagues agree with him, they are not comfortable speaking out given the political climate.

There's also this important qualifier that its just a minority according to the person interviewed.

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[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 32 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Sometimes I wonder how feasible it would be to join and sabotage them from the inside

[–] OshagHennessey@lemmy.world 51 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

The danger of doing something "ironically" or "to gain access from the inside" is, you MUST have a hard cutoff point, both in terms of time spent and things accomplished, and you MUST exit as soon as either one happens, regardless of the status of the other.

Anything less, and you run the very real and serious risk of doing it for so long, you end up actually just doing it for real.

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[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I mean, the article is about the reporters experience of applying. Should give you some idea, sounds like a pretty risk free endeavor - and you'd get a 50k sign up fee if accepted.

[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

50k would be a game changer for me right now

Edit: I think I would have to stay there for 2 years to keep the bonus. Fuck that.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Possibly less so now that you've posted about it publicly lol

[–] silence7@slrpnk.net 29 points 2 weeks ago

Per the article ICE doesn’t seem to care about that, or things like skipping your drug test

[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Maybe, but also you might be underestimating their incompetence.

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ICE is just a tool. Mango Hitler wants them to push the population, but he doesn't give a shit about them all. They are simply expendable and, when they are not useful anymore, they'll be thrown under the bus.

Notice how people talk about ICE but not about who controls ICE. They are just useful fools.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 21 points 2 weeks ago

“Let’s say a local police officer arrests someone out in the field for a DUI. Extremely common. Or beating their wife or whatever—all the typical crimes they commit,” he said. (The “they” here being “undocumented immigrants,” and while it’s extremely difficult to measure, evidence suggests that “they” actually commit crimes at a lower rate than U.S.-born citizens.)

"All the typical crimes THEY commit?" I would bet nearly anything that the rate of DUI and Domestic Abuse is FAR, FAR higher among ICE Agents, than undocumented immigrants.

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

Unfortunate paywall. I was actually enjoying that article.

[–] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 47 points 2 weeks 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 2 weeks 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 2 weeks 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 2 weeks 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.

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[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks 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 2 weeks 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).

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[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They’re recruiting the IDF

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 19 points 2 weeks ago

they are using tactics from the IDF.

[–] Widdershins@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago

I am trying to change careers and was joking about joining ICE with my mom yesterday. We got a laugh out of me needing to find size 25 combat boots and a human colored clown wig first. If they want a circus they should expect clowns.

[–] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 2 weeks ago

Very good read, glad to see there's still someone doing real journalism out there

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