ICE Update: Healthcare Hiring; Questions Mount over New Recruits
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is hiring dozens of health care workers, as the agency faces mounting criticism over deaths in custody.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to hire more than 40 doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, pharmacists and health administrators, who are members of the U.S. Public Health Service Corps.
Government records show that 20 detainees have died in custody since President Trump began his second term. In contrast, 24 detainees died in custody during the entire Biden Administration. However, the overall death rate is lower given that the number of detained immigrants is around 60,000, a record high.
The rise in deaths comes with an erosion of oversight, as layoffs hit DHS offices who investigate allegations of abuse and neglect.
However, DHS argued in a recent lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that it “provide[s] adequate food, clothing, shelter, and medical care to individuals in custody” and that “all medication, whether brought by the detainee or later, is received by [the ICE Health Service Corps] and administered according to proper medical procedures.”
Some of the public health jobs will be at centers that have seen detainee deaths, including facilities in Eloy and Florence, Arizona, and in Jena, Louisiana.
ICE Recruitment and Fitness Concerns
And there are updates on ICE recruitment as the agency tries to expand to 10,000 agents by the end of the year, given its infusion of funds under the One Big Beautiful Bill.
NBC News reports that ICE placed some new recruits into its training program before they finished the vetting process. Sources told the network that only later did ICE discover that some of the recruits failed drug tests, failed criminal background checks, or didn't meet the physical or academic requirements.
“There is absolutely concern that some people are slipping through the cracks,” the current DHS official said.
On the topic of fitness, The Atlantic reports that more than one-third of new ICE recruits are unable to pass the agency’s basic fitness requirements. Those include completing at least 15 push-ups, 32, sit-ups, and a 1.5 mile run in under 14 minutes.
DHS pushed back on that number.
"The figures you reference are not accurate and reflect a subset of candidates in initial basic academy classes," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said to Newsweek. "The facts are most of ICE’s new recruits are former law enforcement officers and many are former ICE officers who retired or quit under President Biden because they were frustrated about not being able to do their jobs."