More than 200 new Immigration and Custom Enforcement agent recruits have been dismissed as the Trump administration ramps up hiring at the agency, NBC News reported exclusively on Wednesday.
The agency has reportedly brought in new recruits before they completely pass the vetting process. After bringing some recruits on, ICE officials have realized that they didn’t pass the drug test, have criminal backgrounds, or fall short of the physical and academic conditions, the report said.
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“Just under 10” had criminal convictions, didn’t pass drug tests or had safety concerns. A majority of the dismissed recruits didn’t pass the physical and academic requirements. NBC News’ reporting aligns well with reporting from The Atlantic on Monday.
“It’s pathetic,” one ICE official told The Atlantic. The publication also reported that ICE headquarters sent an email to top ICE officials claiming that “a considerable amount of athletically allergic candidates” showed up to the academy.
ICE Security’s Personnel Security Division (PSD) handles vetting and hiring. According to the agency’s website, the division plays a “vital role as the frontline guardians, entrusted with safeguarding our workforce, agency, and national interests against potential harm posed by individuals who may not uphold our standards.”
But the news suggests a failure, or at least some oversight, on PSD’s part.
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“The figures you reference are not accurate and reflect a subset of candidates in initial basic academy classes,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin told NBC News and The Atlantic. “The vast majority of new officers brought on during the hiring surge are experienced law enforcement officers who have already successfully completed a law enforcement academy. This population is expected to account for greater than 85% of new hires. Prior-service hires follow streamlined validation but remain subject to medical, fitness, and background requirements.”
The Trump administration is working toward having 10,000 more ICE agents working for the agency by end of year. The funding for which (nearly $30 billion) has been allocated from the massive spending bill Trump passed on July 4. (The agency claims on its website at the time of writing that it has “more than 20,000 law enforcement and support personnel” globally.)
As such, the Department of Homeland Security has offered student loan forgiveness, $50,000 signing bonus, and more, to try to entice prospective applicants. Additionally, ICE ads have appeared en masse on television and streaming services across the nation.
Correspondingly, DHS said in September it had received more than 150,000 applications, but it does not clarify between what dates. It also claimed it sent out 18,000 tentative job offers. Three sources told NBC News the recruit rush has strained the human resources department.
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In a related and undoubtedly concerning move, ICE has also shortened its training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Georgia from 13 weeks to six, NBC reported.
President Donald Trump ran his presidential campaign on a mass deportation policy, looking to lock up and deport “dangerous criminals” and “the worst of the worst.”
But as of late September, roughly 71.5% of detainees do not have any criminal convictions, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).
The Trump administration even set a whopping arrest goal for ICE: 3,000 individuals per day (or roughly 90,000 per month). Unsurprisingly, the agency has fallen short of that goal.
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Still, ICE’s impact has been detrimental.
A monthslong probe by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) “identified 510 credible reports of human rights abuse” at immigration centers, according to a July 2025 report.
These instances include credible or confirmed “deaths in custody, physical and sexual abuse, mistreatment of pregnant women, mistreatment of children, inadequate medical care, overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions, inadequate food or water, exposure to extreme temperatures, denial of access to attorneys, and family separations,” according to the report.
McLaughlin has denied the abuse.
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Moreover, ProPublica reported last week that ICE has wrongfully detained at least 170 U.S. citizens this year after searching social media, lawsuits, court records and media reports. The government does not track this number though, so the number could be even larger.
