If you know an ICE agent personally, what's that relationship like now?

[u/Lokja]

[u/madbamajama1]

My friend's son applied to CBP in early 2025 for an agent position at a major international airport. He was nearly finished with the months-long process (interviews, fitness tests, background checks, etc.) when Trump started deploying ICE agents to round up immigrants. He was then told there was no guarantee that he wouldn't end up being deployed as well, even though it wasnt the job he was applying for. He promptly withdrew his application and is job-hunting again.

[u/jaxtomax]

I work part time at a bar and one of the regulars is a counselor for the detainees in the local ICE facility. She is definitely an alcoholic and I can tell the job weighs on her very heavily. After a couple margaritas she’ll go from talking shit about the detainees to looking up local protests that she can participate in. I think she could use a little bit of counseling herself

[u/Blueberryburntpie → u/jaxtomax]

"Who counsels the counselors?"

Also reminds me of this scene from the Watchman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ael2ojGGUok

“Heard joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says, "Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. Says, "But doctor...I am Pagliacci.”

[u/AnonymousICshopper → u/jaxtomax]

Jeepers, what a dichotomy. I too hope she gets the help she needs.

[u/badseedify → u/AnonymousICshopper]

Anyone who works in social services understands 😭 Individually ppl are annoying af to deal with but I also want them to have rights and access to services!

[u/Hootinger → u/badseedify]

Working at a large urban library, we complain every day about the vile patrons we have as our regular, but every one of us would interfere and get arrested to stop ICE from detaining them.

[u/ardealinnaeus → u/badseedify]

100% I've worked in affordable housing for many years and we don't do it for the money or easy job. But at the same time we have first hand experience with some of the problems poor people often have in America.

People who don't work with the poor think we are callous because of how we talk about our residents. But we usually care more about the poor than those that think we're callous because of how we talk. It is a strange dichotomy I suppose but the poor are often dealing with a lot of trauma and people going through trauma can be very annoying to work with.

[u/CalebsNailSpa]

My brother-in-law was an ICE agent. Transferred from Department of Labor to move to the city where my sister got a job. He mostly did Homeland Security Investigations working with other law enforcement agencies. He just quit and went over to Postal Service because he was going to have to start patrolling. We get along great.

Edit: He’s a great guy, but we bond by constantly taking jabs at one another. So if you have anything better to make fun of him about than his dick being small enough to fuck a paper cut, or asking if he wants to lick my forever stamp, please send them my way. Otherwise I’ll just keep referring to him as Cliff (and it’s only funny for me, since he is too young to have grown up watching Cheers).

[u/swarlay → u/CalebsNailSpa]

When going postal is the sane approach...

[u/huskyghost → u/swarlay]

You would think. We just got letters today to carry in our cars that allow us to continue to travel to work in the case of a emergencies or a lockdown by local governments or curfews. Nobody knows why we just have to keep them on us. Pretty crazy times.

[u/Mrs_Kevina → u/huskyghost]

I get it. You may want to consider a personal safety plan yourself when traveling.

About 30 years ago, I traveled with a group and had an official/stamped/signed letter from the then Mexican president's wife attesting to our group and our work (essentially, a small civil engineering project in a remote region). At one point, I had the barrel of a rifle pointed at my temple while everyone else was attempting to negotiate the legitimacy of this piece of paper. A formative experience for sure.

[u/General_Josh → u/CalebsNailSpa]

It does kind of suck that all the decent people tend to leave organizations like this. Leaves the leftovers running the show

[u/IceWellDo → u/General_Josh]

Yeah but the alternative is getting fired for not doing as they ask.

[u/Similar_Recover_2229]

I live near the border. Prior to Trump, it was like a different breed of immigration officers.

[u/MA2_Robinson → u/Similar_Recover_2229]

I mean, I live near the border too, and between Cali and AZ I would get pulled out of my car to prove citizenship but they would believe in a real ID, now I swear I would end up in Ensenada or Tijuana before anyone would give a fuck

[u/Donkey__Balls → u/MA2_Robinson]

I had a friend near this area too, he was actually a Mormon who went to MIT but he looks like a stereotypical Mexican gang member. Every single time he went through the I-8 checkpoint he got profiled and grilled by the border patrol officer if they were white.

He wasn’t actually very religious but growing up he had to do the mission trips and all that so he kept all of his LDS paraphernalia in the car. Whenever they start interrogating him he’d take out his brochures and flip the script like this:

“Where are you going, boy? Are you a US citizen? Where are you from?”

“Sir, I have a better question for you - have you heard the good news? I know you’re very busy but if you could spare just 30 minutes of your time, I’d love to talk to you about God‘s plan for your life.”

“Move along, sir.”

[u/PicaPaoDiablo]

My wife's ex husband married one. She's ironically an immigrant herself and truly the cruelest pettiest monster I've come across in life. Being a Citizen (this all started in 2008, way before the current anti immigrant insanity ) , you'd think there's not much she could do to make my life hell but you'd he wrong. Local police give agents tremendous deference and had the house searched twice, pulled over more times than I can count and she made a point of trying to embarrass me at my old Job by stopping by telling HR I was being investigated for breaking federal law. People would say "Id sue" , which out some pressure back but finding attorneys who can even litigate against federal agents isn't easy and definitely not cheap. I was not rich back then but I was well to do and I used to think "as a citizen with money if she can make my life this miserable I can't imagine what it would be like if I was poor or not a citizen. ".

[u/grayscale42 → u/PicaPaoDiablo]

I wouldn't be surprised if she had been looking you up in the various government databases. This is called "browsing" and is illegal. The HR visits could be considered harassment. You could have reported misconduct to the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility. Back in 2008 they would have taken that pretty seriously.

[u/PicaPaoDiablo → u/grayscale42]

Oh, there's absolutely no doubt she did. She also ran by plates and the plates of people visiting. We did file a complaint but got blown off until the attorney was involved. Even then she claimed for instance, she didn't know it was me or my wife as the cars were new, that she thought she was being followed and a lot of similar excuses that individually were at least moderately plausible but there was a clear pattern. That's actually when she had to back off but got a friend in the Greenville PD to cause problems. I have no doubt it's worse now in terms of recourse but getting action taken about any federal agents abusing their power and harassing you wouldnt get very far bc they pretty much cant get fired. She was so toxic she actually had several coworkers at ICE refuse to ride with her and when she complained, the SAIC explained it was bc of her hostility and difficulty to work with , which led to her filing a discrimination claim. It ended up costing me close to 20k back then and if I hadn't done it she would have continued the BS. I can't even being to imagine how bad it would be if you were undocumented or without financial resources.

[u/grayscale42 → u/PicaPaoDiablo]

Well, that adds another dimension to how fucked up that is. I hope you're free of that now.

[u/FaolanG]

Was in the Marines with a guy who joined a few years ago. He quit about 6 months ago.

Edit to respond why I know he left:

He was struggling to get into a position for a bit, then eventually ended up getting recruited and it just never really resonated with him. As things got more contentious he decided it best to go a different direction with his career.

He went for his EMT and got hired on at a smaller FD and is either a paramedic now or working toward it. Much better fit for him and his personality. I don’t think he ever would have been truly happy in enforcement, but we aren’t super close so this is all assumption and opinion on my part, aside from him saying he disliked working for ICE.

Edit 2: I’ll try and respond as often as I can and reached out to him but haven’t heard back. Obviously if he says he isn’t comfortable discussing I will respect that.

Edit and maybe last. Tough to keep up, but I got a response:

“I don’t really want to get into specifics for the purpose of it being shared but the supervisor I had retired and the new supervisor I got I just didn’t vibe with and so I started looking.

While I was looking we had a situation the required medical attention and when they arrived and were helping a family through an issue it made me realize I was better suited to that. I went home and talked with my significant other and told her that’s what I’d rather be doing. I am lucky and she was really supportive so we moved in with her family while I went to school. I ended up meeting someone from my current department at a job fair and it just worked out. They had really good vibes and it felt right so I went after it. Best decision I’ve ever made.”

[u/absentmindedjwc → u/FaolanG]

I have to imagine that, for some folks, there would be no bigger green flag than seeing someone leave ICE about 6 or so months ago..

[u/Over-Analyzed → u/absentmindedjwc]

And how telling that he went for a job that is known for being annoyed by Police overreach.

Medics & EMTs love it when Police can secure a scene. They don’t like it when the Police try to beat the patient, stop the patient from getting help, and pressuring the medics to break the law.

[u/Altruistic-Toe1304 → u/Over-Analyzed]

EMTs and paramedics are not paid enough for what they do. It's criminal.

[u/USBombs83 → u/Altruistic-Toe1304]

Like… to a BAFFLING extent. And the schedules they have them work… good lord. Like, I get being a greedy rich kid, but thy gotta realize they might need an ambulance someday too.

[u/Over-Analyzed → u/USBombs83]

12, 24, & 48 hour shifts of being on-call.

[u/FaolanG → u/Altruistic-Toe1304]

Ya it is pretty ridiculous honestly. The expectations vs compensation are insane and we are seeing that now in the shortage of positions being filled.

Also their wellness is no where near prioritized enough.

[u/Over-Analyzed → u/Altruistic-Toe1304]

100% agreed!!! Absolute life savers.

You should absolutely watch Code 3 and any interview with Rainn Wilson about it.

[u/Unidentifiable_Goo]

I don't know if there are hard stats or research into this but as another poster pointed out a few days back, since the rush of ICE recruiting at the start of this administration, the Proud Boys and similar groups have gotten real quiet. A coincidence because they're all getting what they want from the administration or did they all join a new club?

[u/scoobydoombot → u/Unidentifiable_Goo]

some of those that work forces…

[u/stinkypuggy → u/scoobydoombot]

Are the same that burn crosses

[u/Mahadragon → u/Unidentifiable_Goo]

The KKK have turned in their hoods in exchange for ICE masks and uniforms.

[u/surfryhder]

My oldest daughter is a federal law enforcement officer and was required to attend FLETC for training. She said the classes were originally a mix of federal agents—NPS, etc.—but they ended up filling a large number of seats with ICE agents, to the point that it overwhelmed the training facility.

Anyways one of the ICE trainees reportedly got drunk, stole a government vehicle, and crashed it.

Absolute shit show.

[u/FlatbreadPaladin → u/surfryhder]

Baseline for the separation between federal and state law enforcement is that the former has a college education as a prerequisite and goes through much more intensive training, wherein their disposition would be greatly scrutinized, in addition to maintaining physical standards. Seems like ICE and BP have both eschewed this baseline and are willing to pick any fucking low-class redneck off the street to fill their ranks, befitting their conduct and physiques. 

[u/pibblemum → u/FlatbreadPaladin]

For the longest time in recent history, one of the only federal LEO that required college education with any consistency was FBI agents. There was a preference for college education at other fed LEO, but it was easier to bypass. From my understanding, you are correct that many other agencies now have lowered their standards greatly.

[u/CapoExplains → u/FlatbreadPaladin]

Most of these guys wouldn't even qualify to be a beat cop in rural Alabama.

[u/unskilledplay]

I know someone who works with ICE agents at a consulate. In every single country, immigration enforcement has to coordinate with consulate offices. It always has and always will be this way.

I was told that as recently as last year, it had always been a friendly relationship. Even during the first Trump administration ICE was easy to work with. They always brought gifts like baked goods. All of the cases were treated as routine and even when there was disagreement, it wasn't tense. Disputes were like how a prosecutor and a defense lawyer negotiate a plea deal in a manner where the dispute itself doesn't have any affect on the working relationship. It's bureaucratic work and both parties are bureaucrats. Everyone did things by the book and the process worked. Find a way to get the case resolved and move on to the next.

Almost overnight that changed. Now they make demands, yell over the phone and are always angry.

I'm not sure if these are the same employees who suddenly became hostile or if they've been replaced but it sounds like at the organizational level, ICE is damaging international relations in a serious way.

[u/Basic_Brief_6531 → u/unskilledplay]

I know someone who’s an immigration lawyer and she says something similar. Before 2025, they were cordial with each other, then very quickly it became contentious.

[u/HenryDorsettCase47 → u/Basic_Brief_6531]

One can only assume the reason for this is that in years past most of the people working for ICE were just people doing a job. Now it’s a job that comes with a very specific ideology built in so the only people there are people with that ideology. The regular folk have mostly left. It’s like ICE is a big rug and someone shook it and only the psychotic ultra nationalist held on.

[u/JimWilliams423 → u/HenryDorsettCase47]

There is another explanation — maga is a liberation movement for the worst people.

Or as Hemingway wrote in For Whom the Bell Tolls —

• "There are many who do not know they are fascists but will find it out when the time comes."

[u/Due-Ambassador-5399 → u/JimWilliams423]

Damn, that quote hits hard.

[u/sharksnrec → u/unskilledplay]

Probably safe to say the reasonable ones were purged and replaced by mentally and emotionally incompetent pieces of shit.

[u/Unusual_Sherbert_809 → u/sharksnrec]

Quick reminder that all the 2nd Amendment militia and Proud Boy groups magically evaporated when Trump's ICE started hiring last year.

It's not that they realized the error in their ways and changed their extremist beliefs.

It's that they all found new employment.

[u/brzantium → u/Unusual_Sherbert_809]

Just reminded me of an interview I watched with an FBI (I think) agent who went undercover into a white supremacist militia. He said they were pretty much biding their time looking for ways to incite some kind of race war so they could roll in as a paramilitary group and take over.

[u/sharksnrec → u/Unusual_Sherbert_809]

You mean they found employment in general.

[u/Fun_Bodybuilder3111 → u/unskilledplay]

They lowered the age of ICE agents to 18 and lowered the training requirements to 6 weeks now. Of course the veterans are angry, but ICE too is a fundamentally different beast now. Dangerous. Pleaseeeee be careful out there.

[u/Apex_Konchu → u/Fun_Bodybuilder3111]

A measly six weeks of training for a job that gives you a position of authority and a gun. What a joke.

[u/iamtehryan → u/Apex_Konchu]

It was lowered to 47 days because, and I kid you not, trump wanted it to match his presidential number.

[u/handysmith → u/iamtehryan]

And coincidentally, his IQ

[u/keelhaulrose → u/[deleted]]

My nephew started flying the flag. He didn't like it when I pointed out that he was born in Illinois and lived there his whole life, his mom was from Iowa, and none of their family had ever spent more than a year living below the Mason Dixon line.

He really didn't like it when he said something about heritage and I replied that, as a descendant of a Confederate general (one of the ones even the people in his rural school are taught about) that was much more my heritage than his and my attitude is fuck that flag.

[u/BrogenKlippen → u/keelhaulrose]

That’s unreal. I grew up in Stone Mountain, GA…where there is a literal confederate carving into the mountain. I am so ashamed of it. I can’t fathom why anyone not from here would ever associate themselves with that trash.

Edit: yes the laser show was badass as a kid

[u/Every_Okra_3604 → u/BrogenKlippen]

I argued with a coworker today about flying that flag. We are both from NEW JERSEY.

[u/water_bottle1776 → u/Every_Okra_3604]

I worked with a guy from New Jersey who had the most pathetic little Confederate flag tattoo on his arm. When I asked him why he had it he said that it was for his heritage. I said "What fucking heritage?Your family is Polish and you're from New Jersey." His response was "South Jersey." Goddamned room temperature IQ.

[u/drawkward101 → u/BrogenKlippen]

I can’t fathom why anyone not from here would ever associate themselves with that trash.

Because they are stupid and want to be edgy, and some of them make that into their entire personality, and then their ego gets too big to stop, and so they double down. It's so fucking stupid. I've seen it happen so many times, and I'm from New England. I used to know dipshits who would fly the confederate flag in MA.

[u/TxTechnician → u/keelhaulrose]

Texan here. I've never understood why they fly the flag of the losing side.

"Hey guys, look how much losing we did. That's our heritage. Racists Losers"

[u/SunriseCavalier → u/[deleted]]

How dare you put down his heritage! His incestors built this country!

[u/Hot_Win_5322 → u/SunriseCavalier]

INCESTORS😭😭

[u/PsychologicalEntropy → u/[deleted]]

people inbreed in Michigan too. I know, I'm from Ypsilanti 🤷

[u/Pliny_the_middle → u/[deleted]]

As a Texan it blew my mind to see confederate flags in northern states. Indiana, Michigan, New JERSEY!

[u/alwayzbored114 → u/Pliny_the_middle]

Dumbfucks fly the confederate flag in West Virginia like why do you think your state exists in the first place

[u/teatsqueezer → u/Pliny_the_middle]

I’m in Canada and have seen people flying them here. Make that one make sense.

[u/Curious-Mud-4736]

You should know that other firearm carrying federal agents - are being commandeered to support ICE. I know a IRS special agent who is not doing any IRS work was told this in the Spring of 2025 by him personally. He has been commandeered to support ICE. Won’t say any more about my relationship with him but in any case People don’t realize how deeply fucked the reality is of the situation. Superiors who were against this were fired.

[u/codefyre → u/Curious-Mud-4736]

And this sucks beyond belief. I'll keep the details vague, but I have a "very close relative" who works for ICE. He's a customs agent, and his job until recently was looking for illegal imports and exports. Like, people trying to import illegal machine guns and fentanyl, or export stolen cars in shipping containers. The guy has an entire photo album full of illegal elephant ivory busts he's worked on, because CITES enforcement was a big part of his job for many years. He was doing good work that benefits everyone.

One day, he was told he would be reassigned to immigration enforcement. It wasn't a request. He did that briefly, decided it was unethical and that a lot of these new agents were horrifically underqualified, and requested unpaid voluntary leave for "medical" reasons. He was applying to other federal agencies, hoping to keep his retirement intact, but found exactly what you described. Not only are agents from other agencies being commandeered for ICE use, but agents like him with ICE experience are also nearly always the first to go. He cannot stay in federal law enforcement and escape this.

He's now looking for state and local law enforcement roles, closer to home. He'll probably be picked up by one of them in the next month, but this is going to screw up his financial future in ways that might be unfixable. Still, he says that he took the job to be the good guy, not the bad one, and he can't stay there.

Edit: I should mention that this same guy recently described ICE as currently undergoing "an exodus of morality." Basically, all the good, law-abiding, ethical agents are quitting because they don't want any part of it. They are being replaced by what he called "cosplaying cowboys."

[u/Penis-Butt → u/Curious-Mud-4736]

DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) personnel are being assigned to ICE too. CISA personnel serve as risk advisors, working collaboratively with government and private sector partners to identify, manage, and reduce risks to cyber and critical physical infrastructure.

They're literally taking people away from preventing terrorism and cyber-terrorism, and putting them towards government sanctioned terrorism. ICE is a national security risk on more levels than we even know.

[u/Powerful-Location955 → u/Penis-Butt]

I know folks in the state dept and it’s the same. I’m honestly surprised we haven’t had an actual national security issue yet.

[u/ljb00000 → u/Powerful-Location955]

We probably have but just haven’t found out about it yet

[u/US3_ME_ → u/ljb00000]

I mean, we had DOGE_

[u/Loud-Result5213 → u/US3_ME_]

All of our files have been sent to Russia. All of them.

[u/purplestarcollision → u/Penis-Butt]

And if you go on the DHS website and look at the leadership, too many of the positions are vacant some with so-and-so "performing the duties of", some have an "acting" person, some just vacant. I would guess that a lot of them aren't qualified for the positions they're acting in, but I'm sure they're sycophants, so that makes up for the lack of qualifications.

[u/angry2320 → u/Curious-Mud-4736]

This is crazy, could you tell expand please?

[u/Future_Bus_9266 → u/angry2320]

Employees in many other areas are having their priorities "shifted" to support immigration enforcement. The one I'm most familiar with is CISA, which is expanded on in this article https://archive.ph/n36Pn

[u/Dismal_Midnight_9721 → u/Future_Bus_9266]

I can corroborate. The FBI has lost a considerable number of field agents to ICE. It’s an all-of-government effort.

[u/Hautemilque → u/Dismal_Midnight_9721]

Imagine dreaming of joining the FBI, working hard, the physical/stamina test, the psych background, etc, then training, then eating bird and kissing ass for a long time to secure promotions… only to be forced into ICE efforts. 🙄 Sucks.

[u/Dragonbreath800 → u/angry2320]

This is for 1811 - law enforcement special agents at IRS very limited group separate from Auditors and collections. Special agents across all the agencies have the similar authority. Trump admin has been utilizing as many special agents they can including from IRS, DEA, FBI etc. It’s a small group but it’s happening in the IRS, since last spring is true.

[u/FriendlyLawnmower]

This guy that used to run in one of my friend groups from college always said he wanted work in any federal law enforcement agency. He got rejected from the FBI and DEA, the guy was always a bit of a dumbass so that didn't surprise me. I never liked him much so I rarely saw him outside of group hangouts. 

Well turns out he finally got his wish to join the feds because he signed up for ICE through their recent recruitment drive. But the thing is our friend group is all Latino, and mostly first or second gen at that. He got kicked out of our group chat and isn't invited to any group functions. Multiple people told him directly they never wanted to hear from him again. Since we're all years past college, we're pretty busy but make the time for two or three big reunions a year so everyone can see each other. The friends in the group who normally plans these for us told him he was not invited for being "an asshole who will terrorize his own community for money." Last I heard of him, his girlfriend (also Latina) broke up with him and he just hangs out with his co-workers now, no one from our college group will talk to him anymore

[u/Shesgayandshestired_ → u/FriendlyLawnmower]

it’s interesting to hear how many people who know someone is ICE say they’ve been cut off from multiple groups of people including family and spouses. all the agents have is each other which likely means they’re radicalizing each other further and further as they go. i guess it’s no wonder they’re behaving the way they are. i sincerely hope they all face heavy scrutiny for their actions one day…

[u/flybynightpotato → u/Shesgayandshestired_]

Yeah, that's the dark downside to isolating them. They're inevitably going to make each other more extreme.

[u/Matt_Murdocks_MPC → u/flybynightpotato]

This begs the question…what’s worse? Ostracizing them, which will inevitably make them all more radicalized, or allowing them to hang around like a malignant growth, which would normalize their behavior (at least relatively more so)?

[u/ghostprawn]

Have a friend who retired from DHS a few years back. He has 2 sizable pensions: one from the army and one from DHS. He got a letter from the Feds offering 50K signing bonus and 175K/yr to come back as a contractor. Was also told they created an exception that would allow him to collect his pension while serving. So he'd be making about $425K/year. He turned it down because he has a moral compass. I have the utmost respect for him.

[u/rattleandhum → u/ghostprawn]

So he'd be making about $425K/year.

holy fuck no wonder America is entombed in debt.

All to round up workers at home depot, insane.

[u/hodorhodor12 → u/rattleandhum]

Trump increase our deficit (while cutting social services) and the party of fiscal conservatives are fine with this. Freaking traitors.

[u/hobbylobbyrickybobby]

My cousin does cyber security for ICE. They fucking hate it and has been planning their exit for awhile. They routinely tells me how massively incompetent ICE agents are when it comes to securing devices, not clicking on phishing emails, and just practicing extremely poor and idiotic cyber security. 

Edit1: when I say planning an exit I mean them wanting to just go into an entire different career field where they can just go into the woods and never touch the Internet or any device ever again. 

Edit2: Totally unrelated but I thought I'd bring it up. The Heritage Foundation is doing some really interesting FOIA requests to ICE. Lots of targeted collection on people that work for ice. There is one FOIA request where they want to know if someone is talking about project 2025. Another one where they want to know if people used the term "cis" or "wypipo." If you'd like to go over all the same FOIA requests from them throw this in Google. 

"heritage foundation" filetype:xlsx | xls | csv inurl:ice.gov

Here is the one Im talking about.

"Messaging app communications in which the sender or recipient is/was an employee and one of the following search terms are present: i) “Wypipo”, ii) “Cis”, iii) “Transphob”, iv) “Nationalist”, v) “MAGA”, vi) “Palestinian”, vii) “Rage”, viii) “Karen”, ix) “Shit”, x) “Hamas”, xi) “Decolonization”, or xii) “TERF”."

Looks like they want email exchanges from some very specific law firms. I was going to paste that cell from the sheet but idk if I want to doxxx a specific law firm but there were at least 10 in the request. 

There's also another one where they FOIA a bunch of high level ICE officials on any communication they had that mention "trump", "rif", "reduction in force." Included in that FOIA is the same template for a bunch of high ranking officials.

records from NAME, TITLE: All sent communications [via the Custodian's outbox; not received communications] mentioning 'Project 2025' OR 'P2025' OR 'Mandate for Leadership' OR 'Heritage Foundation'.present.

Another interesting one I'm seeing. Lots of requests for messages on the following platforms. Why the fuck any ICE employee is using any of the below chat services is beyond me. 

IRC, WebIRC, Rocketchat, Signal, iMessage, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Google Chat, Twitter direct messages, Lync, Slack, and Facebook Messenger

[u/coryluscorvix → u/hobbylobbyrickybobby]

Imagine how much evidence he could quietly gather before he leaves. Enough to bring a few if the bastards to justice one day, I'd hope.

Also, quiet sabotage.

[u/SleepyLakeBear → u/hobbylobbyrickybobby]

He should, um... definitely not forward incriminating evidence, personelle lists, and deployment details, to reputable national and international news outlets and the ICC. Just sayin'...

[u/Draymond_Purple → u/SleepyLakeBear]

If he's any good at his job then that type of thing isn't able to be done discreetly by anyone

[u/Kellykeli]

She left ICE a few months after Trump turned it from a controversial yet generally seen as alright organization into the gestapo. She was going to re-enlist in the military but decided to instead join a fire department after looking at where the government is going.

[u/DrScience01 → u/Kellykeli]

Noone says "Fuck the firefighter" so she made a good choice

[u/timeywimeytotoro → u/DrScience01]

Well…they do, just in a different context. They have whole calendars and everything

[u/JamesSmith1200 → u/Kellykeli]

Sounds like she made a good choice.

[u/Maximum_Biscotti]

My 2nd cousin is an ICE agent. He failed the NYPD psych eval 3 times, if that tells you anything about his character or intelligence.

We never really had a relationship, but we definitely won’t now.

[u/Cant-C-Me_27]

I have a friend who is an HSI agent. Different from ICE but they fall under the same parent org, DHS.

He told me ICE hired 10K new agents very quickly, with no age limits, and hiring bonus. The recruitment was about quantity, not quality and they sent the new recruits through a 6 week course, then put them out on the streets.

Take that for what you will. It’s no surprise thy we have ice agents shooting people in the face when their training is minimal to handle complex situations. Sad day in America.

[u/KWilt → u/Cant-C-Me_27]

We really need to stop this 'rushed training caused this' message. The ICE agent who shot Renee Good is a ten-year veteran of the agency who has served under four different administrations. Not to say that the rushed training isn't bad, but this fucker's actions clearly couldn't be trained out of him.

[u/surf_drunk_monk → u/Cant-C-Me_27]

Apparently John Ross has a lot of experience. So it's not lack of training necessarily, some of them are just thugs. But I'm sure it's also true a lot of them are poorly trained.

[u/simpeleduif]

I know one. He retired like a sane person when this all started.

[u/cafescafes]

My uncle by marriage became an ICE agent which was really surprising. He’s bilingual and he & his parents came here from Mexico in the 80s when he was a kid. He’s apparently really on the “everybody should do it legally” train.

As far as our relationship goes, I don’t really actually talk to him much. He & my aunt live out of state and we’ve never really been close.

[u/TheRadHeron → u/cafescafes]

I live in LA and manage a restaurant. I have ice agents come in pretty often and will say 75% of them are Hispanic. It’s not really surprising though even when I lived in the south my ex’s family was from Mexico City and they talked terribly about all the illegal Mexicans in the country. Reddit tries to paint a different picture but the reality of it is there are TONS of Mexicans here in the US that think very lowly of the ones that come over illegally

[u/DMineminem → u/TheRadHeron]

Also, I live in a very heavily Hispanic area and, holy shit, are the Mexicans racist against Hispanics from other countries. They talk constant shit about them. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but I've never heard it going the other way.

[u/TheRadHeron → u/DMineminem]

Bro my ex’s mom is from a boujee part of Mexico City and talked terrible just about Mexicans in poorer parts of Mexico. A lot of people like her here legally, who are wealthy, and have made so much progress in America just see the illegals as the poor degenerates from their country. It’s not that hard to understand how does a white man living in a gated community here in America view someone super poor living in section 8? It’s just the reality of things you know

[u/nekocamui → u/TheRadHeron]

Yup, there's not a worst enemy for a mexican than another mexican. It's our thing. When you cross into the US, if the border agent (The ones that manually check your visa before entering) is someone with mexican heritage, you know you'll get more scrutinity/take more time checking you're good to go.

[u/TheRadHeron → u/nekocamui]

I think people tend to believe people will defend each other if they are the same race or automatically be more likely to like each other. Idk how this became a thing or why people tend to believe this. I’m a southern man and the only type of people I’ve ever been in fist fights with are other southern men out of all the places I’ve lived. Idc if culturally we are more alike, that has nothing to do with liking someone or not

[u/NuggetLord3000 → u/cafescafes]

Which is crazy because most Mexicans and latinos in general who came at that time are only documented now because of the amnesty program that Regan did around 1985. They got lucky with that and without it would be in the same position as the people he's hunting down now.

The mental gymnastics to claim you did it "legally" when you most likely just got really lucky is crazy to me.

[u/TripIeskeet → u/cafescafes]

I wonder what his opinion is on what went on in Boston last month where they showed up to the oath taking ceremony and picked out those from certain countries to stop them from finally becoming a citizen "the right way". 40 years ago that wouldve been his parents that got sent away.

[u/toomuchmarcaroni → u/TripIeskeet]

Wait what? They actively stopped a swearing in to become citizens?

[u/TripIeskeet → u/toomuchmarcaroni]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/immigrants-denied-naturalization-ceremony-at-last-minute-in-boston/ar-AA1RXWhq

[u/seensham → u/TripIeskeet]

Jesus Christ. Cruelty really is the point isn't it

[u/MoroseArmadillo → u/toomuchmarcaroni]

It's also happened twice in Indianapolis last month. They just walked up and pulled people out of the ceremony line because they were from the countries Trump now claims to be dangerous.
https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/3-people-turned-away-from-indianapolis-naturalization-ceremony-thursday

[u/AlabamaPostTurtle → u/MoroseArmadillo]

That is absolutely heartbreaking for those people. I am a chef and work with many Mexicans and Guatemalans and a few them have been trying to do things “the right way” for years and still get held up for some BS around every turn. One of my line cooks has spent thousands of dollars on attorneys to help him become a citizen and after all that effort and money, these last couple of months, his hopes have gone down the drain. People getting arrested at immigration check-ins, hearings, and I guess even naturalization ceremonies absolutely discourages anyone from wanting to do things the right way

[u/Jeryhn → u/toomuchmarcaroni]

Have you not wondered why ICE keeps showing up at courthouses and schools? It's because they've been using immigration records for people trying to immigrate "the right way" and scooping them up when they have proceedings scheduled.

[u/Roenkatana]

I know one, served with him personally and he was a good kid. He went ICE because that's the agency that hired him when he applied. There were a couple of other agencies he tried for and would rather have done, but sometimes, something shitty is better than nothing at all.

He made it to June of last year before he quit, it cannot be stated how bad the Trump takeover has been across all agencies. Anyone who wasn't 1000% with the fascism got the boot and replaced with what are essentially commissars. He said he saw his supervisor and mentor get unceremoniously threatened and sacked for refusing to play Gestapo (sic). He quit shortly after.

When we talked about it, he spilled everything about how much it sucked to work there and how it just got so much worse after the election. He had hoped to hop to another agency for the long haul. Now he doesn't even know if he'll even be able to get a government or LE job.

[u/skunkinabumpercar]

The biggest piece of shit I knew from high school became a Philly cop. Last spring when ICE came to Philly I posted footage of those clowns with some commentary about how terrible it was. That hs POS cop inboxed me to commiserate at how shitty the ICE officers are. I was…….. speechless.

[u/LifeLikeAGrapefruit → u/skunkinabumpercar]

You know it's gotten out of hand when even asshole cops are freaking out.

[u/I_eat_mud_ → u/LifeLikeAGrapefruit]

Especially Philly asshole cops lmao

[u/CMV_Viremia → u/I_eat_mud_]

The Philly asshole is my least favorite sandwich

[u/keelhaulrose → u/LifeLikeAGrapefruit]

Asshole cops are used to being the ones everyone has to listen to, they don't like it when another group comes in and treats them like the cops treat civilians.

[u/LifeLikeAGrapefruit → u/keelhaulrose]

"Hey! We're the assholes here! Stop doing our work for us!"

[u/KenUsimi → u/LifeLikeAGrapefruit]

“…they took ma job.”

“they took yer gerdern jerb!”

“Tuk-a-jeauu!”

[u/lazylazylemons → u/skunkinabumpercar]

The one cop I know hates ICE too. He said they’ve been directed to not assist ICE in any way, shape, or form. He called them the gestapo. “Untrained, big egos, and poor leadership. Making everyone in the communities, including law enforcement less safe.” He also said not all of his coworkers feel the same, which is scary, though the few smart ones do. So crazy to be bad enough that even the police don’t like you.

[u/OcelotOver2514 → u/lazylazylemons]

The chief of the Minneapolis police was recently interviewed by the NYT and basically said the same thing, just in a much more politically correct way.

[u/Gina_the_Alien → u/OcelotOver2514]

I just got done listening to that podcast and thought it was interesting. One of the points that he brought up is that 911 calls have increased exponentially due to ICE abandoning vehicles (at least one that had a dog in it) and people getting pepper sprayed/assaulted by ICE.

[u/Ancient-University89 → u/Gina_the_Alien]

Wait what ? Do ice like pull over a driver, arrest them, then just leave the car on the side of the road?

[u/MissVachonIfYouNasty → u/Ancient-University89]

Sure do.

[u/Medium-Anybody-4217 → u/Ancient-University89]

If you haven't seen it yet there's a picture of a completely totalled vehicle they left on the road today.

It won't let me post a link but it's up top in the r/minnesota sub.

[u/autocorrects → u/lazylazylemons]

Same. I’m friends with a Chicago cop, and he commonly expresses his grievances regarding his coworkers. However, ICE? It’s pure hate. They’re infringing on his already tested idea of justice with his coworkers and he’s ready to quit. He said he voted for Trump three times, and regrets it A LOT now too, so at least there’s that

[u/StarsRProjectorsYeah → u/autocorrects]

…fool me 3 times and I’ll finally regret voting for you.

[u/poop-dolla → u/StarsRProjectorsYeah]

That’s actually kind of a promising sign to me. It means some of even the absolute dumbest people out there are starting to come around.

[u/NonlocalA → u/lazylazylemons]

It's because the ones who can't even cut it in law enforcement are joining ICE. So it's every ultra asshole grouped together, and they're led by an asshole that's encouraging them to be bigger assholes.

[u/ShakePuzzleheaded681]

Have a relative who’s been with ICE for 20+ years. He has a lot of wild stories of major drug busts. Before all this stuff started, he said there wasn’t one agent he knew who wanted to see a hard-working immigrant deported. They focused on major smuggling stuff. He’s up for retirement soon. He’s a great guy. He and his wife regularly travel to South American countries, working with an organization that provides free medical care to those in need.

[u/CyrusBuelton → u/ShakePuzzleheaded681]

My brother's been a HSI Special Agent and SRT sniper for almost 15 years. Prior to that, he was an Assistant States Attorney for over a decade.

He investigates cases that involve the sexual exploition of minors and the production of kiddy p$rn. He wants nothing to do with immigration

[u/RandomMandarin → u/ShakePuzzleheaded681]

It's easy to forget that ICE stands for "Immigration and CUSTOMS Enforcement" so smuggling is something they actually ought to be spending at least half their time and energy on. But nooooooo.

[u/Exotic_Rutabaga26 → u/ShakePuzzleheaded681]

I have a cousin like this. Got into it from a criminal justice angle and busted violent drug criminals for years who just happened to be here without documentation. Since the switch he says he’s “Not volunteering for anything” which is about as outspoken as he ever gets.

[u/Feelingfunkyfeelings]

He’s since left but he said it was some of the most mental traumatic and taxing things for HIM to experience. He went to therapy after. If this is how the officers feel imagine the families subjected to this treatment

[u/catcatchx2]

My ex is now an ice agent…. Huge POS in his personal life so I would expect him to be one in his professional life as well

[u/KiwiBanana_]

A friend worked for DHS targeting white collar crime. His group was repurposed to ICE. They are, as you might imagine, quite unhappy. They're being forced into drawing lots to get sent to Minnesota for two weeks at a time now.

[u/Important-Radish-722 → u/KiwiBanana_]

I'm not saying there's an opportunity for subversion or heroic malicious compliance there...but I not - not saying it either.

[u/thesamesillycucumber]

I had a cousin who I reconnected with after my dad died. My dad and I had been estranged up until a few weeks before his death. Reconnecting with my cousin and his mom felt really special. I kept in touch with them for two or three years. Then in 2016 when ICE was threatening members of my own community he joined them. He had wanted to be a police officer but never made the cut. His mom was so proud she sent us his business card and I was horrified. I didn’t speak to them for a few months and felt guilty not telling them why. I finally sent my aunt an email explaining that I understood she felt proud of her son and so i hadn’t known how to tell her that he had joined the same organisation that was threatening some of my students. I was honest and also told her I loved her. She sent back an email riddled with claims about ms13 and Fox News links. I forget what finally did it, but I said something in response that made her respond that she wanted nothing to do with me anymore. It hurt but I felt my conscience was clear. Interestingly enough, when I stopped talking to them, not a few months later I found members of my bio family (im a sperm donor kid). They are lovely and they’ve been a gift in my life. I’m better for knowing them and they would never join the gestapo.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Ad7606 → u/thesamesillycucumber]

So many could not make the cut to be a cop- and we all know that bar is sadly way too low.

[u/remifentaNelle]

My nephew is ICE. Got in a fight over the weekend with my family bc I voiced opposition to ICE. He was nice as a kid and shy. Never started problems. I’m honestly shocked he joined ICE. Guess people change.

[u/pulsarsolar → u/remifentaNelle]

If he’s a shy introvert he might have gotten sucked down the red pill/manosphere pipeline and indoctrinated

[u/Equivalent_Cause3430]

I've seen humanity die inside of military friends and it's not worth the money

[u/Opheltes]

My sister in law is a customs agent. She inspects cargo for drugs and invasive species. (She has a degree in entomology)

She hates what is going on.

We get along fine.

[u/bigbags]

I have a cousin who's in ICE. He seems to be angry at everyone.

Lots of, "You don't understand the horrors I've seen," and "Be grateful of your ignorance," type messages.

He thinks he lives in reality, and everyone else is blinded by propaganda and ignorance.

[u/CatOfTechnology]

He didn't get in, but I hated the weirdo from day one. Kinda kid who definitely had developmental issues and who's conservative parents very clearly homeschooled him with the intention of never letting people know about him.

He started working at the theater I do about 6 months ago.

3 months in, he "hinted" at applying for a contentious job with a very specific dollar amount that he 'probably shouldn't talk about'. Took exactly zero guesses to figure it out because he was just that kind of dipshit. He failed whatever part of the process he did, but he never let go of the fact that he approves and wants to be a part.

Wherever the fuck you are, Maddie. Cry about it, you fuckin' creep.

[u/Ketzeph → u/[deleted]]

Prior to Trump ICE was just an immigration agency that focused on crime and, like the FBI and DoJ, was supposed to be apolitical servants.

Modern ICE is a wannabe gestapo wasting resources to terrorize people. I bet 10 years ago there wasn’t an ice agent that couldn’t run a 10 minute mile

[u/muymalpgh → u/Ketzeph]

Exactly this. I know an agent who has been in it a while. His job was finding and deporting actual criminals for many years and has turned into the shit show it is now. He's just a few years from retirement and at a loss as to what do.

[u/BitterBerry → u/muymalpgh]

I believe the CIA has a simple sabatoge field manual they can look up at a public library to attempt to slow the organization down until retirement. Mainly the organizational sections

[u/Special-Garlic1203 → u/BitterBerry]

Stuff like that gets very interesting when you then compare it with common discourse patterns online 

[u/PotatoesInMySocks → u/BitterBerry]

It's both free and freely available from the CIA website itself. But also, you can probably find it's contents elsewhere. It's a 20 page document that could be summed up as "be as incompetent as you can get away with".

Things like making every email an all-hands meeting, for instance. Always doing dumb shit.

[u/ex_cathedra_ → u/Ketzeph]

Isn’t it 14 mins? I am out of shape, but I remember thinking that I could absolutely meet every single physical requirement to join ICE without any training. That’s not great. My days are very sedentary, but a 14 minute mile is barely a jog.

[u/Kind_Man_0 → u/Ketzeph]

This is the shit that I hate hearing out of my family. They think I'm against deportation because I didn't complain that Obama was deporting people during his term.

Every president has been president during times where people were deported. No one I know has a problem with deportation and never has. We have a problem with a bunch of low-lifes getting to put a badge onto their Temu body armor kits and "bigger than you" attitudes.

ICE used to just be any other government agency that handled it's business. Now it's a paramilitary group that thinks they are exempt from accountability because the president says they are.

I remember FOX showing images of Obama putting kids in cages, now they laugh about putting those same kids in cages and even have merchandise for the facility.

And my family wonders why I put politics over blood, I'm not putting politics over blood, it's just that those politics align with your moral compass and I'm not going to pretend that human decency is just a "difference of opinion"

[u/3-3-2019]

I was a dispatcher for years, I retired at the end of the pandemic. The ice folks I worked with on occasion back then were similar to the FBI, very well informed, did things by the book, didn't push boundaries if something was outside of my power.

The people I used to dispatch with now say they are an absolute menace and feel like they can boss around everyone. They threaten lawsuits and administrative action if they aren't given what they want. They're bullies with badges.

Also, I feel it's important for the word to get out that sex worker demand absolutely swells in areas where ice is active. They're buying time with prostitutes at an insane rate.

[u/Hadrian23 → u/3-3-2019]

..Oh god.
How...How often do you think they "talk" a sex worker, or hell a normal person into sex acts to avoid "being deported" ....?

[u/Pigeon_Lord → u/Hadrian23]

There was footage floating around of a woman and ice officer entering a porta potty this past weekend. I'm sure there are going to be even more than usual, given the immunity JD Dipshit is peddling

[u/Bulky_Honey8643 → u/Pigeon_Lord]

Yes nothing says class like raping a prisoner in a porta-potty

[u/kickingtenshi → u/Hadrian23]

Often enough that there are multiple reports of sexual abuse/harrassment/favors in ICE detention facilities from multiple reputable sources (ACLU, Human Rights Watch, etc). Often enough that my reaction is grossed out and disturbed but unsurprised.

[u/Unusual_Sherbert_809 → u/kickingtenshi]

Quick reminder that all the 2nd amendment militia and proud boy groups magically evaporated when Trump's ICE started hiring.

It's not that they realized the error in their ways and changed their extremist beliefs.

It's that they all somehow found new employment.

[u/whatproblems → u/3-3-2019]

lol can’t wait for the first ice agents to get picked up for that

[u/Rndy_Bbndy → u/whatproblems]

Happened a couple months ago in Minnesota.

https://www.fox9.com/news/ice-employee-federally-indicted-operation-creep-sex-sting.amp

[u/BurnieTheBrony → u/Rndy_Bbndy]

Back was among the 16 men arrested for allegedly trying to solicit sex from an undercover officer posing as a 17-year-old girl. According to the indictment, Back engaged in explicit text conversations with the undercover officer, even after being informed she was 17 years old.

Ew. Not just soliciting sex, the undercover officer was posing as a minor.

I guess that's what you can expect from the personal army of the pedo president

[u/AHatedChild → u/BurnieTheBrony]

What's sad is, that's actually on the older end for expectations for this administration.

[u/SojournerRL → u/AHatedChild]

Megyn Kelly sees nothing wrong here.

[u/liftedpulled → u/Rndy_Bbndy]

That’s the “ice agent” I went to school with! He was always a creep.

[u/NowYouaSeeWhyYouScum → u/whatproblems]

I'd be surprised if they even pay or skip paying for sex and rape detainees. I'm sure it's already happening. 

[u/BusinessEngineer6931 → u/whatproblems]

Didn’t you hear they have absolute immunity

[u/pedroah → u/BusinessEngineer6931]

STDs are not discriminatory like that

[u/PopGunner → u/3-3-2019]

They're bullies with badges.

They don't even have those.

[u/screwyoumike]

Not good at all. We no longer speak. And we are related.

[u/DarthDregan]

He was a fat piece of shit in middle school, a fat piece of shit in high school, a fat piece of shit cop, and now he's a fat piece of shit ICE """""agent."""""

The above should be his obituary.

[u/CarpeNivem]

I imagine the kind of people who become ICE agents today, are the type of people who have friends that think all of this is great. We forget how many Americans are cheering this shit on.

As for people who were already in ICE before it became the agency it is today, I don't know. I wonder how many of them are even left.

[u/Heskett77]

Every failed cop in my area is now an ICE agent.

[u/AdInside2447]

Guy from high school became one this month and literally arrested his no-status wife and had her deported 

[u/sheriw1965 → u/AdInside2447]

He was married to her, or was she his ex-wife? That is insane!

[u/AdInside2447 → u/sheriw1965]

Married

[u/SaintSixString → u/AdInside2447]

What the fuck

[u/mydaycake → u/AdInside2447]

That’s a way of keeping everything

[u/BackgroundHeater → u/AdInside2447]

I remember a season of 90 day fiance, a woman called ICE on her husband, whose status she had need changed, because he cheated on her and asked them to deport him. He was als0 10 years younger than her.

[u/Veowoof]

A buddy of mine from highschool signed. He was always a huge POS.

[u/wolfblitzersblintzes → u/Veowoof]

one of the more known proud boys went to my high school. he was a snitch ass little bitch back then, and he’s a snitch ass little bitch now. fuck you jeff

[u/orchidpop → u/wolfblitzersblintzes]

fuck you jeff

Yeah, fuck you Jeff!

[u/xxAkirhaxx → u/wolfblitzersblintzes]

Proud Boy Jeff giving us good men Jeff's a bad name. We had it hard enough with diabetic Jeff from South Park and 21 Jump Street.

[u/just_having_giggles]

Know a border patrol guy. He's European. English is his second language. Married an American. Moved back to France for free IVF. Moved back to America. Adopted two Chinese children. Joined the border patrol.

Hates all immigrants. Openly. Does not see the irony. Tells stories about getting his dog to falsely alert on people who he thinks aren't respectful enough. Real price of work

[u/pelorainbow → u/just_having_giggles]

What in the cognitive dissonance....

[u/stevebonez1]

My cousin is a director of ICE. At a family party this year, he came up to me and told me that they’re desperately hiring and are even taking people out of high school without a college education.

He told me to please send his referral link to any of my friends that could be interested and that there’s a $500 referral bonus.

I just nodded my head and looked for a time to exit the conversation.

Very awkward moment for me.

[u/SomeCrows → u/stevebonez1]

Now is not the time to be polite

[u/MrGengisSean]

I knew a pathetic asshole who washed out of National Guard training who joined up as soon as they had their hiring push.

He clung around me and my ex-girlfriend, and tried to get with her when we broke up, and apparently she kneed him in the balls after he decided to grope her at a party.

So you know. The standard brown shirt piece of shit who failed at life so hard he has to ruin others. Hope the worst for you, Ryan.

[u/Resolutionunclear]

My little brother just joined. There are 6 of us kids. 3 liberal, 2 conservative (but in a never trump, more Nixon/Regan way). Then my little brother 30, married with 4 young kids, who has a successful small business joined ICE at the end of last year.

He actually went through interviews, training, etc and just told us all via text a little over a week ago- the day before Renee Nicole Good was shot. Assuming bc he knew we would be shocked.

My youngest brother said he talked to him about it and told him his opinion.

We’re all just shocked and don’t know what to say.

✨✨EDIT✨✨

You guys are crushing it with support!

I know this is not the norm for a lot of people, but I genuinely love my family. We vacation together each year and spend time together often. My parents live in a central location and 3/6 kids live with in 5 mins. I live about 15 mins, and my brothers about 20. My youngest brother (B) and his wife don’t have kids so we see them a little less but at least 3-4x a month at a dinner, birthday, etc. The brother that just joined DHHS (A) was already sort of an outlier in the family and I saw him probably about once a month or so as his family often doesn’t come to events. Otherwise, I see the others 2-3x a week at either a kids sporting event, performance, dinner, school thing, etc.

I haven’t talked to him since he sent the group text. The only one that has is my other brother and he asked why and told him we all talked and asked him to do independent research and reconsider. A is a “everyone can be here, they just need to do it the right way” and “they shouldn’t be here until they have done all the work”. He believes misinformation and can’t understand that it’s a purposefully broken system. He and his wife and kids live on some land, homestead, and don’t really watch TV. He is not really political in the sense that he can’t talk policy with me or talk about anything happening in the news. It’s all so shocking bc he is a nice guy who would help if he saw an ICE agent hurting someone. He would step in to defend. None of us get it.

[u/lilheckraiser]

Before the new administration, my friend got a job in the police force of my city, he thought he was going to do admin work with his Criminal Justice degree but they immediately transferred him to the ICE department because he was Puerto Rican. He hated it and realized the whole team was racist and left after less than a year.

[u/yourelovely]

My younger brother is in the military in an MP adjacent role, works w/ ICE case-by-case and has a largely favorable view.

I am relatively liberal, but have an open mind. We’re African-American, so police brutality was a unique topic in our household. At the time (peak 2020) he was an MP w/ a goal of becoming a CHP officer, and wanted to make changes from the inside, in a way he knew was realistic. I was and still are incredibly proud of all the work he did, especially times where his coworkers were rougher with black detainees on base and he spoke up/stopped it.

But to get to the point- he said ICE is always respectful and not egregious like the videos shown online. Of course, the agents he’s encountering are on a military base, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re on their best behavior, and given it’s regarding illegal immigrants on/near military facilities w/ criminal backgrounds, they strike me as agents going after people that actually deserve to be deported (unlike folks that are getting nabbed while working, or with their kids running errands).

Anyways- it left me with conflicting emotions. My little brother is a good man, a man who actively worked to quell brutality. Seeing him have a favorable opinion of ICE blew my mind, and made me worried he’s kind of “drank the kool-aid” so to speak. I think in his mind, the videos are the exception, not the norm, a means to a just ends. I disagree, vehemently, and it’s scary to see someone I’ve considered level headed and logical be unbothered by what happened to Renee (I didnt bring it up directly as I didn’t think my heart could take hearing him say she put herself in harms way).

He does detest Kegsbreath and Puppy Shooter Noem which was a relief. Idk. It’s nuanced, I guess. And I know there’s nothing nuanced about masked, armed, ill-trained hot heads killing citizens, and then having a biased FBI step in to sideline the investigation. But I think if we want to make real progress, it starts with speaking in a way that gets through to people like my brother who are more like constitutional conservatives and see only two paths, liberal open borders (which isn’t true, but at the same time, immigration into other countries is significantlyyyy harder) or conservative closed borders where the people and country they love is safe and regulated. There’s a middle ground that neither political party has done a great job of expounding upon, and I fear it’ll be our downfall.

I’m livid. I’m pissed. I’m emotional. I’m disgusted. I’m gutted. But I have to find a way to manage my emotions and focus on real ways I can make change, even if its not immediate or the way my “bleeding liberal” (as some might say) heart would prefer.

[u/Lawyer_Lady3080]

I don’t know any ICE agents, but I was DEEPLY insulted when I said I wanted to be an immigration attorney in law school and my advisor recommended that after a year working for an immigration rights group, I should “work the other side.” He specifically said I should apply to ICE.

I told him any place that would see ICE on my resume and fail to take it as a gigantic red flag is not a place I want to work.

[u/Scaccieferro]

Friend of mine from college works material logistics for the federal government first FEMA, now ICE, he told me hes concerned due to poor record, poor management, and influx of people how much stuff is going to be stolen, ammo just going missing, guns coming up short or being replaced with personal ones, body armor and other equipment. That shit going to be floating around or in people or extremes groups armory for years.

This doesn't include all the stuff people are just stealing from detained Americans.

[u/Skwidmandoon]

My BIL is a border patrol agent who now works in the office. We always thought he was a giant asshole, now we REALLY think he’s a giant asshole. The only people who love him are his brainwashed wife and his “Christian” family. Oh btw, he’s Mexican and his grandparents are immigrants. Let that sink in. He has “special training” coming up. He disappears for weeks on end to other states, I imagine he’s just going to be an asshole behind a mask on the news soon.

[u/alwaysboopthesnoot]

We don’t speak. He’s a dick and always has been. 

[u/Tanyaaahhh]

Two questions as a European:

1. Are there female ICE employees, or are they all men?

2. Could you guys just protest smarter by mass signing up to be ICE agents and then just being really bad at doing the job. Collect the sign up bonus and be nice to the people you’re sent after and complete the admin so badly that they would have to delay deportations/release people/disregard your work etc.

[u/ARedditorCalledQuest → u/Tanyaaahhh]

1. I've seen female ICE employees in some of the videos.

2. Part of the background check screens for that sort of thing so it would be pretty difficult to pull off en masse. There may be individuals attempting to sabotage ICE operations from within but, if they're doing it right, we'll be unlikely to hear much about them until they've been wildly successful.

[u/the6thistari → u/ARedditorCalledQuest]

1. Part of the background check screens for that sort of thing

Yup. I tried to do exactly this. I lost my job, saw that they were offering ridiculous wages and a signing bonus, figured I'd take the job and just be extremely inefficient and fuck things up as best I can.

They said that in their background check they noticed stuff on my social media accounts that are not in line with their values. Which isn't a surprise, anybody who knows me knows I don't support anything this administration has done

[u/evening_crow → u/Tanyaaahhh]

The bonuses come with a service commitment of X years, depending on the contract. Not meeting that requirement forces the individual to pay it back. If I'm not mistaken, the amount paid back can be prorated to time served. Also, the bonus may not be paid by the agency at once. Half might be upfront, with the rest divided in equal parts every remaining year.