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A journalist went undercover to see just how difficult it is to get a job as an ICE agent and the results were scary.
Under the Trump administration and Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been terrorising communities in the US, most recently in Minnesota, where an ICE agent fatally shot 37-year-old mother Renee Nicole Good through the window of a car, sparking widespread protest.
The agency has been likened to the “American Gestapo” and one journalist went on a journey to discover what the hiring process was like if someone wanted to sign up to become an agent.
In August 2025, Slate journalist Laura Jedeed attended an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Career Expo in Texas, fully expecting to be thrown out once they searched her name online and found her Trump-critical bylines.
But, Jedeed revealed the whole process took fewer than six minutes. She was asked her name, date of birth, whether she was over 40, and whether she had law enforcement or military experience.
“If my application passed muster, I’d receive an email about next steps, which could arrive in the next few hours but would likely take a few days. I left, thanked her for her time, and prepared to hear back never,” Jedeed wrote.
In September, Jedeed said, she received an email for a “TENTATIVE offer” from ICE. Then, a short while later, despite failing to fill out any of the forms asked of her, she discovered she had actually been offered a job.
“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,” Jedeed wrote. “By all appearances, I was a deportation officer. Without a single signature on agency paperwork, ICE had officially hired me.”
According to the portal, Jedeed claims her medical check and background check were marked “completed”, despite never having taken either.
“The only thing left for me to do was press the green ‘Accept’ button on the home page.”
While Jedeed did not accept the job, her story highlighted how terrifyingly easy it was to get to that stage.
She wrote: “To be clear, I barely applied to ICE. 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.”
In response to her story, Homeland Security attempted to discredit it as a “lazy lie” in a post on X/Twitter.
However, in response, Jedeed posted a video screen recording of the ICE hiring portal dashboard showing her offer for the role of “Deportation Officer”.
Why not read…
- Jimmy Kimmel brings us the ICE ice capades
- Leavitt storms away from press after branding Renee Good 'lunatic'
- Mark Ruffalo gets emotional at Golden Globes over ICE shooting
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