I skipped the steps of the application process that would have clued the agency in on my lack of fitness for the position. I made no effort to hide my public loathing of the agency, what it stands for, and the administration that runs it. And they offered me the job anyway.
Archived copies of the article
89 Comments
IamSparticles@lemmy.zip · 242 pts · 233d
I found this bit very telling:
"Don't expect to be beating heads on day one. But if beating heads isn't what you're signing up for, you're probably not who we want."
unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de · 90 pts · 232d
This also stood out to me. People ive had discussions with have often tried to argue that the military is not as bad and that ACAB doesnt apply to military veterans. Fuck no. Active military deployment turns people into fucking ghouls that are incompatible with society. Some people turning out well (like the author) is just the exception to the rule.
7101334@lemmy.world · 71 pts · 232d
They aren't ghouls, they're victims. They can be, and often are, victimizers as well. Most people join the military because they're broke and desperate. Have some class solidarity.
Now the people who join the military just to go shoot someone in the Middle East (or soon South America maybe), yeah, they can get thrown into the meat grinder.
unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de · 14 pts · 232d
I agree, that they are also victims. Ideally they would get the help they need, but realistically thats not happening so we have no choice but distance us from them, lest we become victims too.
7101334@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 232d
That's an insane and inhumane stance which could be equally applied to mentally ill / developmentally challenged people in many cases. The price of community is inconvenience. We aren't only meant to protect and take care of people when it's comfortable for us.
Now if we're talking about living with someone with PTSD who waves a gun at you or hits you, for sure, get yourself out of that situation for your own wellbeing. But there's a lot of room between "Calling them ghouls and exiling them from polite society" versus "Avoiding becoming a victim of their violence", especially when they aren't all violent.
unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 232d
Comparing vets to involuntarily disabled people is a big stretch. Most vets alive today are people who knowingly decided to go kill people for oil money. Dont bullshit me with "they didnt know better". Nobody goes to afghanistan without knowing about the atrocities that the US has comitted there. Being poor and needing the money doesnt justify being a murderer. If you applied the same logic to ICE, people here would be apalled.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 232d
As staggering quantity of American teenagers, at least the majority, are truly that ignorant. They didn’t have a real education and their pastor told them that brown people fuck goats and kids and the US army will help stop that.
7101334@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 231d
I don't think vets volunteered to be disabled.
I'm guessing you've spent time around like, 1 or 2 veterans max.
Do you have literally any source to back that claim up? (I know you don't but I'm asking anyway.)
You might if you are broke as fuck and not on the internet 24/7.
Not everyone lives the same privileged life as you.
xxam925@lemmy.zip · -1 pts · 231d
Have you ever read Of Mice and Men?
Sometimes we have to do hard things.
7101334@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 231d
I tend to place human compassion as a higher priority than morals derived from novels.
...also the book is about shooting a mentally handicapped guy because the world wasn't able to accommodate his disability. Are you always pro-eugenics or just in specific cases?
hanrahan@slrpnk.net · 45 pts · 232d
Blackmist@feddit.uk · 3 pts · 231d
Pig farmers and tailors.
Branch_Ranch@lemmy.world · 41 pts · 232d
2x Combat vet here. Yeah, you're not wrong. I have grown to despise many of the guys I've deployed with. I see their posts on FB and am to the point I really want to call them out and publicly shame them. I feel like I'm a unicorn, I've gotten more and more leftie as I get older and have shunned my military past. Just my two cents. Fuck trump and fuck ICE.
moonshadow@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 231d
I've noticed it seems to polarize people. A lot of the best (and worst) people I deal with are ex-military or convicts. Wake or break type deal, they seem to come out hardened and inspired to resist or broken enough to fit the mold perfectly. Sorry about your service.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 232d
Having said that, people leave our police force either mentally damaged or suicidal from the PTSD, physically broken or killed, or angry at the entire force at how they treat their resources (ie people). The goal is to retire-out, right around when you really hate the job, and have the body and mind to never look back.
grue@lemmy.world · 153 pts · 233d
That is far better than I expected, not worse. Hopefully there are enough of such folks that we can get some internal resistance going.
BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world · 63 pts · 233d
Yup. If I get fired I'm definitely applying and they'll regret hiring me.
Fedizen@lemmy.world · 96 pts · 233d
Things ICE agents shouldn't do:
jayambi@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 233d
asking for a friendv does the LSD in the coffee machine work? i mean doesn't it get burned or damaged?
interrobang@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 36 pts · 233d
Good question, I looked and it is unstable at higher temps!
Ketamine, however, is higher-temp stable ;)
Fedizen@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 233d
Good point. Only put LSD in a cold pot. I thought ergot survived baking but maybe there's something that stabilizes LSD in that situation.
jayambi@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 232d
cold brew coffee anyone?
Scotty_Trees@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 232d
when you say you "looked" did you just ask AI? ;)
interrobang@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 232d
Wikipedia, she's my ride or die
Scotty_Trees@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 231d
hell yeah!
7101334@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 232d
Yes, it works, but also yes, high temps will destroy LSD. So if it was a brand-new-scalding-hot pot, it would probably degrade. Would you still feel it? Idk. If it's a lukewarm pot though, you'll probably trip just fine.
For informational purposes only, obviously.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 231d
Urine does not heat degrade. Just sayin.
jaaake@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 232d
This happened at my Junior High School the year after I had left, but it turns out it was iced tea, not hot tea: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-11-mn-47764-story.html
JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 232d
Ugh, poor guy. Being dosed can be a lot of fun given a handful of strict conditions, but otherwise it's worse than battery IMO. I can't imagine having no experience with LSD and being dosed at work.
ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one · 15 pts · 232d
I dunno about giving a bunch of unknowingly LSD who also happen to have access to guns and the ability to destroy lives. Seems like a bad idea.
Now laxaitives or sediatives, that's a different story. Cna't shoot innocent people if you're too busy shitting on the toilet or asleep at the wheel.
assa123@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 232d
Sleeping at the wheel or speeding for a toilet still seems a bit dangerous for the average driver, but for them that sounds below their mark.
Flatworm7591@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 233d
Now you're talking.
fleem@piefed.zeromedia.vip · 6 pts · 233d
fuck yeah lsd and disco
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 232d
Not sure but the heat might destroy the compound
blitzen@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 233d
Except the MAGA immigrant thing. Actually don’t do that. We shouldn’t be deporting anyone because of their politics.
Fedizen@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 232d
Its what they want. Sometimes you're the guy wishing at the monkey paw, sometimes you're the monkey paw.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 232d
actually, i'm thinking maybe joining ice could get me the drugs i need to live easier. also i could deport people to i don't know honolulu
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 232d
Low level ICE grunts have zero say in where people get sent
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 232d
Hey not now I just got to the part of the fantasy where my pony got a medal
TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 232d
The point was that they clearly aren't checking up on anyone they hire. Meaning literal nazis can easily get in without anyone noticing or caring.
7101334@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 232d
...I mean that implies they wouldn't hire Nazis if they were screening.
America inspired the Nazis. This is nothing new. Our country is founded on genocide and built by slavery. The only reason decorum has been maintained as long as it has is because the propaganda/distraction machine worked so well until they broke it on Israel and forgetting to give people enough money to eat.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 232d
Not really, it implies they have plausible deniability because they can just pretend a "mistake" like that is a one off, if discovered. "Oh whoopsy, one slipped through!"
7101334@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 232d
The LA Sherriff's Department was revealed to have gangs in their ranks which would go out and party and get commemorative gang tattoos after they killed their first person.
Basically nothing happened as a result.
You drastically overestimate the extent to which there is oversight or accountability for any so-called 'law enforcement' in this country.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 232d
You're making a huge mistake if you think I believe that would ever care from a morality standpoint. What I am saying is that they would prefer to appear to be checking and also not have records indicating they would hire known racists/criminals. My theory seems to line up with the author of this article's experience.
7101334@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 231d
Again, they got gang tattoos. They're not worried about hiding anything or keeping up appearances. They have guns and the government on their side. They are the dogs of the ruling class. Most of us don't even have guns... yet.
Not to even get into the DHS Twitter posting "14 words" tweets and other barely-veiled white supremacist propaganda.
They hired her without even bothering to check that she's a massive ICE detractor, how does that support your position? It's a hiring process, a necessary part of getting boots on the ground, not a meaningful screening process and not really presented as one.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 231d
If I'm wrong and you're right then they literally would not have been requesting that paperwork at all. I'm not sure what this conversation is because we are on the same side and I haven't remotely said anything in defense of any kind of decency on the behalf of law enforcement. I was just pitching a reasonable theory as to why they'd request screening paperwork at all if it literally didn't matter and you'd get accepted anyhow.
BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca · 15 pts · 233d
My thinking as well...
AbidanYre@lemmy.world · 89 pts · 233d
Are we talking about immigrants or cops?
the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world · 38 pts · 233d
D.U.I and wife beating are time honored cop activities, they have to be talking about cops for sure.
dan1101@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 233d
Cops, it's always projection with MAGA.
nowwhernews@lemmy.world · 86 pts · 232d
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 52 pts · 232d
Actual link: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26184
nowwhernews@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 232d
Thanks, meant to link it.
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org · 36 pts · 233d
I read just yesterday in a differen... wait, it was Ken Klippenstein, here it is - anyhow, DHS employees (I guess even some of the newly hired ICE goons) just don't want to do this shit anymore, but The Don said MOAR so they are scrambling to get people to do the dirtiest work.
edit: it appears the article is about last autumn, so what I quoted is not directly connected but still of interest
WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com · 17 pts · 233d
There's also this important qualifier that its just a minority according to the person interviewed.
7101334@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 232d
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org · 1 pts · 232d
no, i meant the article linked in this post.
7101334@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 232d
Ah got it
ramenshaman@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 232d
Sometimes I wonder how feasible it would be to join and sabotage them from the inside
OshagHennessey@lemmy.world · 52 pts · 232d
The danger of doing something "ironically" or "to gain access from the inside" is, you MUST have a hard cutoff point, both in terms of time spent and things accomplished, and you MUST exit as soon as either one happens, regardless of the status of the other.
Anything less, and you run the very real and serious risk of doing it for so long, you end up actually just doing it for real.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 232d
probably to act as subterfuge, like secretly warning which areas ICE is about to hit ahead of time.
OshagHennessey@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 231d
This is a worthy goal. However, what you're suggesting is very much like choosing to shoot a bank robber; you need to very carefully consider how you're going to achieve your goal without looking like one of them.
drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 231d
That's kind of what a handler is for.
OshagHennessey@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 231d
This is true, but having a handler requires one to know someone they can trust absolutely. Sadly, not everyone knows someone like that.
drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 230d
And this is one of our weaknesses we don't have the organization to easily put this together. I would not know how to set it up and probably already fucked up by talking about it.
OshagHennessey@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 229d
I don't think so. If we get to the point they have time and resources to tack down stuff like that, we're badly losing the fight.
Organizing is as easy as meeting your neighbors and starting a group chat to keep an eye on each other and maybe exchange information and resources. Rome wasn't built in a day and all that. Focus on making connections to those closest to you and your network will grow organically from there.
Organizing is effective too. It's a lot harder for them to take someone when it's John, the electrician who gave you a hand fixing your kitchen light and not just "the guy in the blue house."
DarkCloud@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 232d
I mean, the article is about the reporters experience of applying. Should give you some idea, sounds like a pretty risk free endeavor - and you'd get a 50k sign up fee if accepted.
ramenshaman@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 232d
50k would be a game changer for me right now
Edit: I think I would have to stay there for 2 years to keep the bonus. Fuck that.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 10 pts · 232d
Possibly less so now that you've posted about it publicly lol
silence7@slrpnk.net · 29 pts · 232d
Per the article ICE doesn’t seem to care about that, or things like skipping your drug test
ramenshaman@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 232d
Maybe, but also you might be underestimating their incompetence.
silence7@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 232d
Probably very.
AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@sh.itjust.works · 29 pts · 233d
ICE is just a tool. Mango Hitler wants them to push the population, but he doesn't give a shit about them all. They are simply expendable and, when they are not useful anymore, they'll be thrown under the bus.
Notice how people talk about ICE but not about who controls ICE. They are just useful fools.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 21 pts · 232d
"All the typical crimes THEY commit?" I would bet nearly anything that the rate of DUI and Domestic Abuse is FAR, FAR higher among ICE Agents, than undocumented immigrants.
Crackhappy@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 233d
Unfortunate paywall. I was actually enjoying that article.
WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com · 47 pts · 233d
Here's sort of the punchline near the end:
“Please note that this is a TENTATIVE offer only, therefore do not end your current employment,” the email instructed me. It then listed a series of steps I’d need to quickly take. I had 48 hours to log onto USAJobs and fill out my Declaration for Federal Employment, then five additional days to return the forms attached to the email. Among these forms: driver’s license information, an affidavit that I’ve never received a domestic violence conviction, and consent for a background check. And it said: “If you are declining the position, it is not necessary to complete the action items listed below.”
As I mentioned, I’d missed the email, so I did exactly none of these things.
And that might have been where this all ended—an unread message sinking to the bottom of my inbox—if not for an email LabCorp sent three weeks later. “Thank you for confirming that you wish to continue with the hiring process,” it read. (To be clear, I had confirmed no such thing.) “Please complete your required pre-employment drug test.”
The timing was unfortunate. Cannabis is legal in the state of New York, and I had partaken six days before my scheduled test. Then again, I hadn’t smoked much; perhaps with hydration I could get to the next stage. Worst-case scenario, I’d waste a small piece of ICE’s gargantuan budget. I traveled to my local LabCorp, peed in a cup, and waited for a call telling me I’d failed.
Nine days later, impatience got the best of me. For the first time, I logged into USAJobs and checked my application to see if my drug test had come through. What I actually saw was so implausible, so impossible, that at first I did not understand what I was looking at.
Somehow, despite never submitting any of the paperwork they sent me—not the background check or identification info, not the domestic violence affidavit, none of it—ICE had apparently offered me a job.
According to the application portal, my pre-employment activities remained pending. And yet, it also showed that I had accepted a final job offer and that my onboarding status was “EOD”—Entered On Duty, the start of an enlistment period. I moused over the exclamation mark next to “Onboarding” and a helpful pop-up appeared. “Your EOD has occurred. Welcome to ICE!”
I clicked through to my application tracking page. They’d sent my final offer on Sept. 30, it said, and I had allegedly accepted. “Welcome to Ice. … Your duty location is New York, New York. Your EOD was on Tuesday, September 30th, 2025.”
By all appearances, I was a deportation officer. Without a single signature on agency paperwork, ICE had officially hired me.
Mirshe@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 233d
I'm sure they're being pushed to not decline ANYONE. You aren't hiring the numbers they want to hire if you decline anyone with a pulse and the ability to hold a firearm.
IamSparticles@lemmy.zip · 17 pts · 233d
Interesting. Apparently the recruiters are gaming the system, too. They're probably getting a piece of that sweet-sweet signing bonus.
dermanus@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 232d
Knowing this admin they're probably using the stick, not the carrot. We know the agents themselves have quotas, I'd be surprised if the recruiters didn't.
IamSparticles@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 232d
Fair point. That is another possible explanation.
Fredselfish@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 233d
Wait they Dont hire people with domestic violence convictions? The way they operate I thought it was an requirement.
WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com · 14 pts · 233d
I think you missed the key line. Perhaps they care about the optics of it and include that as part of the paperwork (granted, that's perhaps a holdover from previous administrations), but they don't actually care about how you fill it out (or in this case, not fill it out).
Nollij@sopuli.xyz · 6 pts · 233d
It just said to submit an affidavit (meaning you can lie, but they can retaliate against you later). If they were serious, it would say that DV shows up on the background report and would disqualify you
Sabata11792@ani.social · 2 pts · 233d
So it sounds like if they got 100,000 totally real applications in 30 seconds, they would be confused why everyone no called no shows on the next siege.
CaptDust@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 233d
Here ya go, enjoy
Formfiller@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 232d
They’re recruiting the IDF
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 19 pts · 232d
they are using tactics from the IDF.
Widdershins@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 233d
I am trying to change careers and was joking about joining ICE with my mom yesterday. We got a laugh out of me needing to find size 25 combat boots and a human colored clown wig first. If they want a circus they should expect clowns.
floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 14 pts · 232d
Very good read, glad to see there's still someone doing real journalism out there
DarkCloud@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 233d
It says they prioritizing law enforcement and military backgrounds, but not being greatly rigorous... Which is better than I expected (I thought they'd be going straight to far right hate groups for direct recruiting).