Despite a historic recruitment drive that added 12,000 agents in recently, the agency’s administrative backbone appears to be buckling, with employees desperate enough to turn to the Reddit to detail their struggles.
In raw, unfiltered Reddit posts now spreading beyond law-enforcement circles, ICE officers describe going a month or more without a paycheque, struggling to secure medical cover for sick children, and watching promised bonuses quietly stall.
I saw a video talking about the $50k bonus promised to new ICE sign-ups and how it wasn’t actually a bonus because it’s structured like a payday loan.
They receive the first $10k after 90 days if they remain in “good standing” (the actual requirements to meet this are unclear and could be something as simple as no write-ups, to something insane like “must make 8 arrests per day”). Every year for the next 4 years, they receive another $10k as long as they continue to qualify.
However, if at any time during these 5 years they lose “good standing” or do something else to disqualify themselves for the bonus, they have to pay it back. Again, it’s not clear how much they’ll have to pay back, but clawbacks are in the agreement they sign.
Who wants to bet that these ICE jockeys didn’t read the fine print before signing up?
They’re illiterate. Actually illiterate.