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trump administration Hoping for an unprecedented experiment $75 billion funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement The number of active immigration agents is set to nearly double to 10,000 by early next year, but a large number of new hires are reportedly failing to meet the agency’s physical fitness requirements, slowing down a significant portion of the hiring process.
Now with ICE offer Incentives like loan forgiveness and $50,000 bonusthe agency is flooded More than 150,000 applications this yearBut about a third of the recruits to the agency’s academy have been unable to pass a basic fitness test requiring 15 push-ups, 32 sit-ups and running a mile and a half in 14 minutes. atlantic reportsCiting administration officials.
“It’s Pathetic,” A Career snow The officer told the magazine, calling the requirements “the bare minimum for any officer.”
Department of Homeland SecurityThe company that oversees ICE has said such troubled hires represent only a small portion of its larger hiring pool, and that it expects about 85 percent of new deportation officer positions to be filled with experienced law enforcement personnel who will be put through a separate fast-track hiring process.
with trump administration Officials are reportedly making efforts behind the scenes for this 3,000 immigration arrests per dayThe White House is making every effort to expand ICE as quickly as possible, investing $75 billion in funding for the agency as part of this summer’s One Big, Beautiful bill spending package, while eliminating Spanish-language proficiency and age limit requirements under which ICE recruits must be over 21 and under 40 to join the force.
critics have Warned that lowering standards during this massive recruitment drive could open the door to To Ahead abuse Which has already happened during the Trump administration’s deportation effort.
Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said, “The relaxation of hiring standards and training requirements is unacceptable and will likely lead to an increase in officer misconduct – as happened during a small boom in the hiring of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in the early 2000s, or worse.” wrote Homeland Security Kristi Noem in a letter Tuesday. “Adding to our concerns, DHS has dismantled the offices responsible for overseeing ICE officers and ensuring accountability for use-of-force incidents.”
However, the federal government, along with service branches like the Army and Navy, are already struggling to find physically fit personnel to join the ranks before Trump. Are regularly failing to meet your recruiting goals,
A Pentagon study found that more than three-quarters of Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 were ineligible for service because they were overweight, unable to pass qualification tests, suffered from physical or mental health problems, or were rejected because of criminal records.
Faced with these types of challenges, some service branches have relaxed some recruiting rules or offered supplemental fitness programs for interested recruits.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an unusual address to senior military leadership in September that it “It is unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals” Because “it is an evil eye.”
The Secretary expects men in combat roles to meet “only the highest male standard” of their service’s fitness tests, part of his effort to restore what he calls masculinity.warrior ethosTo the Pentagon.
Although some of these changes have famously been incorporated from a strategic point of view image-obsessed president And his administration also views ineligible troops as a PR liability.
Hegseth celebrated last week when a group of overweight Texas National Guard soldiers landed as part of the administration Unilateral action on Chicago sent home, claim of“Standards are back in the War Department.”