ICE shooting comes after bombshell probe finds new recruits 'can barely read or write'

[cbabe]

https://www.rawstory.com/ice-shooting-2674862836/

ICE shooting comes after bombshell probe finds new recruits 'can barely read or write'

Daniel Hampton
January 8, 2026 5:45PM ET

…

The explosive Daily Mail report found that the administration's $50,000 signing bonus attracted droves of unqualified recruits — high school grads who can "barely read or write," overweight candidates with doctor's notes saying they're unfit, and even applicants with pending criminal charges.

The report exposed how Immigration and Customs Enforcement took a blowtorch to hiring standards, with one Department of Homeland Security official blasting: "We have people failing open-book tests and we have folks that can barely read or write English."

Officials sent recruits to a Georgia training center before drug test results came back, later discovering some tested positive.

At the academy, some recruits showed up with tattoos tied to gangs and white supremacists. One bailed for a court date on a gun charge, and another was arrested for exploding at a bus driver. To boot, sex harassment accusations emerged, with a source describing to the Daily Mail predatory behavior during training.

…

This isn't the department of baking cookies," one source said. "This is the Department of Homeland Security, where you can be deported from the country. “And we're now employing people who are not equipped to tie their own shoelaces.

… more …

[irisblue]

1. Surprise!Surprise!Surprise! Brownshirts of 2026, except this time American men

[paleotn]

23. Same people back then were recruited into the SA and SS

History repeating itself. Courtesy of Jews for Hitler chairman, Stephen Miller. And their media arm, Bari Weiss and CBS.

[USS_Dauntless]

24. Except this time American men

with raging inferiority complexes.

[aeromanKC]

2. Not surprising since they are from Clevon's family tree.

[SergeStorms]

43. I get it.......

but you should post a link to Idiocracy for those who don't get it. 😉

[Irish_Dem]

3. Crime syndicate flying monkeys don't need to be smart.

In fact, dumb is better.

[malaise]

4. Clear as day

What madness is this?

[Paladin]

5. Suspicions confirmed. (nt)

[SamKnause]

6. This is intentional.

[AverageOldGuy]

7. I'm confused

Recruits can’t read and write but sending to Georgia for training?

[cbabe]

11. How to Become an ICE Agent: Requirements & Training

https://climbtheladder.com/how-to-become-an-ice-agent-requirements-training/

How to Become an ICE Agent: Requirements & Training

November 10, 2025

(Fake standards. Even canceled physical fitness requirements: overweight recruits, can’t do pushups, etc.)

From op:

“This whole thing is a complete disaster from beginning to end."

[crimycarny]

21. I can guarantee some have been convicted of domestic violence

There is no way, as violent as many of these ICE agents are, that none of them haven't been convicted of domestic violence. (A violation that allegedly disqualifies them.)

[LudwigPastorius]

25. "Applicants must fog a mirror."

If you do, you get a neat camo outfit, a mask, and a gun.

[SergeStorms]

44. Just don't ask them.....

to spell "fog," or "mirror," or even "a," for that matter. 😉

[ToxMarz]

8. I would bet there's a bunch of pardoned Jan 6 insurrectionists

[debsy]

10. This is what I've been saying...

I’m sure that a number of, if not many, of those who were pardoned found a home at DHS.

[SergeStorms]

46. There's not a doubt in my mind.

They're the exact demographic Trump's brown shirts are examining for recruitment. Complete and unwavering loyalty to Hair Furor.

[Johonny]

9. Trump never hires the best

The best won't work for him.

[JohnnyRingo]

12. I seriously doubted that some of them could own a firearm in civilian life.

This is what you get when you put out the word that you're hiring people who can exercise cruelty and carry a gun.
I'm sure background checks and training went out the window early on.

I'd bet this agent thought he was allowed to shoot someone who gets in his way or flees.
Unfortunately, he may have been. We'll see.

[DinahMoeHum]

13. ICE agents: Too chickenshit to be soldiers. . .

. . .too dumbshit to be cops.

[dalton99a]

15. +1

[Talitha]

30. Well said!!!

[Alice Kramden]

36. Perfect description n/t

[CrispyQ]

50. LOL.

Bumper stickers & tee shirts!

[kwolf68]

14. Can barely read or write

Well they are obviously Maga. Moving on.

[kimbutgar]

16. Why am I not shocked by this???????

[Pas-de-Calais]

17. They are being hired to do tRump dirty work

They’ll be tossed aside once they have served their purpose

Doubt the murdered is spending time with his family

[johnp3907]

18. Surprising no one!

[Jack Valentino]

19. WELL, you need not read or write well to chase down random brown people and maybe

'get the chance to use the guns'!

[Talitha]

31. That's it, in a nutshell.

[Hugin]

20. It shows. n/t

[angrychair]

22. In general most cops are pretty stupid

I mean it takes longer and more testing to cut hair than it does to become a cop. I mean in many areas you can go from zero to carrying a gun and having qualified immunity in as little as four weeks in some areas.
Fuck ice.

[paleotn]

27. One of the great American ironies....

It's not like this outside the US. Particularly in Europe. Think about it. The people we rely on to enforce the law, protect us from criminals, put out house fires, triage us after a car wreck, and teach our children are some of the lowest paid people in the country. That makes absolutely no sense. Seems many Americans just don't want to pay for the higher salaries that would attract better applicants.

At least there are standards for teachers, firefighters and paramedics to weed out most of the can't cut it's. Not so much with cops, depending on the jurisdiction, and particularly ICE. So we're left with the high school jackass who slept through class and spent most of their time in study hall or detention. Now they're carrying a gun and qualified immunity. And for ICE, making big bucks doing it. What could possibly go wrong?! Could America get any more ass backward? Perhaps I shouldn't ask that.

[angrychair]

32. Exactly right

This country is completely shit and appears to be getting worse by the hour.

[progressoid]

26. Unfortunately this is from The Daily Mail.

Not exactly a bastion of journalistic integrity.

[cbabe]

41. Lots of reports so assuming it's been verified. But the real question is can noem read and write?

MSN
https://www.msn.com › en-us › news › us › noem-s-ice-hiring-surge-accepts-recruits-who-can-barely-read-or-write › ar-AA1RJdbR
Noem's ICE hiring surge accepts recruits who "can barely read or write"
The report describes an overhaul so rushed that recruits are being shipped to ICE's training academy in Georgia before their drug test results are returned — with some later testing positive ...


The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk › news › world › americas › us-politics › trump-ice-recruiting-fitness-test-b2849607.html
'Pathetic': ICE recruitment drive stalls as hires can't pass fitness ...
Oct 21, 2025'It's pathetic': Trump's ICE recruitment drive is stalling as new hires can't pass basic fitness test, report says Critics have warned that lowered hiring standards and slashed training ...


Esquire
https://www.esquire.com › news-politics › politics › a69137908 › ice-recruiting-human-resources
ICE Is Hiring Literally Anybody, and It's Terrifying - Esquire
Oct 23, 2025Many recruits have criminal backgrounds or can't pass open-book exams on officer conduct, yet they're allowed to tear children

[AntiFascist]

28. The new Brown Shirts n/t

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

29. What will Night of the Long Knives 2.0 look like? (n/t)

[AntiFascist]

33. One reason the Second Amendment was enacted...

was so that American citizens would not be left in the same predicament as European nations where citizens are left with no defense against a rogue leadership that turns against some of their citizens. Local and state police, National Guard, and military members who decide not to follow unconstitutional orders will have something to say and do against a delusional Federal government that believes it has no restraints. It would certainly be bloody, the economy would crash, and I would hope that this is not possible.

[sakabatou]

34. Only the best, right, Dump?

[Kennah]

35. They must get the Trump cognitive test

[PA Democrat]

37. When Trump sends his ICE agents into our cities, he's not sending the best

He's sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with them. They're bringing drugs (some have been hired and have later been found to have failed drug testing). They're bringing CRIME. They're violent thugs. And some I assume are good people.


Strange that the words Trump used to malign Mexican immigrants could be adapted to describe the hoards of ICE and border patrol agents creating an atmosphere of terror in our neighborhoods.

[Ruby the Liberal]

38. "I love the uneducated" - the key to the long Con

He knew in 2015 that thinking people would see through his bullshit. He also knew that the anti-reg, anti-tax donor class would pick up on this and encourage it so they can ride the coattails. Not unlike how the 'moral' 'majority' (which are neither) were conned into voting against their own interests in the 70s and remain on that mind boggling path today.

He knew in December of 2020 that threatening state officials and launching desperate attempts through dubious legal channels wasn't going to overturn his loss, so recruited this segment of his base to attack at will - including legislators of his own party and his own VP. "Stand back and stand by".

Welcome to 2026: Dressing up uneducated, untrained, testosterone-surging alphas, arming them and sending them on auto-pilot into the streets to cosplay authority - while telling them that there are no rules and will be no consequences (on the heels of the global J6 pardons) was the point.

Just fire at will and the synthetic dingbat at HHS will carve out of whole cloth any random evidence-denying BS her feeble brain can concoct in order to encourage more of the same.

While they may not be able to read, they certainly figured out how to sign the checks.

(That was cathartic...)

[Aristus]

39. "Can't read or write"? Shit, that's Trump's entire voting base.

Add in the gun-crazies and the violent basket cases, and you have ICE.

[Kid Berwyn]

40. Not every lunatic can run an asylum.

So long as they call him, “Sir,” Trump lets Stephen Miller pick a few of the larger male patients at random or by ignorance and give them the keys to the drug and gun lockers, plus access to the ready cash.

[Buddyzbuddy]

42. It's easier to control somebody that lacks the capacity to reason.

No thinking = no questions= no hesitation to follow orders. It's as close as you can get to having a robot army as you can get.

[Bettie]

45. They are hiring them for their violence and brutality

not their intelligence.

They want dumb and mean....they want people who don't really think that killing is wrong. They want the ones who think this is a video game and they are the main character who gets to kill everyone with no consequences.

Then, they dress it up in "law enforcement" drag.

[2na fisherman]

47. Dopers In Ice

As has been stated, many recruits have not passed a pre-employment drug screen. Or they may cheat it by submitting some clean urine belonging to someone else. So how many ICE and CBP agents might there be who are going to work impaired? And once they are hired, they have easy access to all kinds of dope which they can seize and fail to report. It's too late now to conduct a drug screen on Ms. Good's killer immediately after he shot her. For all we know he may have been amped up on something which made him more aggressive than the usual "badge-heavy" guy on the beat.
BTW, it's a good thing that the Minnesota authorities have custody of Good's body. At this point it's not hard to imagine that the Feds may have tried to fake the toxicology part of her autopsy to say she had drugs in her body so they can continue their victim-blaming campaign to try to exonerate her killer.

[Beartracks]

48. That's a feature, not a bug. Trump LOVES the uneducated.

[UTUSN]

49. K&R

[Initech]

51. Ronnie Chieng nailed it yesterday.

ICE put out recruitment videos to gamers, WWE fans, gun nuts, MAGA podcasters, and other violent lunatics. They also reduced the required training time from 60 days to 47 days (because, you know ).

So you attract violent lunatics, you get violence in return. Classic cause and effect.

[Upthevibe]

52. Kick. N/T

[the nelm]

53. SOP from the Republicans nowadays.

Hell, their candidate from the 2024 election, and the eventual winner of that election, pretty much fits that exact same description...

[moondust]

54. Brawn over brains!!!

I've wondered if there may be some pent-up resentment among segments of the population that did poorly in school and thus haven't had a lot of great job opportunities. Along came the "retribution" guy who likely also did poorly in school and thus shares their resentment. That makes him their Chief of Revenge against the brains/the system.

[JPK]

55. I am a retired professional Videographer

Throughout the early 2000's up to around 2015 or so I did a lot of work at federal law enforcement training facilities in both Georgia and South Carolina as well as other training scenarios all across the country. The videos were used for officer training. Not just federal but state and local LEO's as well. I shot videos in a huge variety of scenario's. This included everything from high speed vehicle maneuvers on skid pads, hostage rescue scenarios in buildings and airliners, drug enforcement scenarios, aircraft raids, CPB scenarios, ICE, physical training, human trafficking, weapons handling, explosives , recreation scenarios, class room instruction and many more than I can remember. I am retired now. It was quite the insight into the training these future officers were put through as well the seriousness both the instructors and the students took in their jobs. A lot of instruction in the class room on the constitution and the rights of citizens, legal scenarios, Q and A's with students etc. I have seen all the videos of the Renee Good shooting that I am currently aware of and in my opinion, Jonathan Ross should be released immediately from the service and charged charged with at the least aggravated manslaughter, possibly murder. Considering the amount of his time in "law enforcement", this incident reveals the deterioration of the quality of the professionalism and training as well as the low quality of the personnel being hired by our federal law enforcement agencies.

[Justice matters.]

56. Kick!

And send this report to your congresscritters.

(Just in case they could wake up...)