ICE whistleblower: Agency cut corners to fill ranks

descriptions off, selected

captions settings, opens captions settings dialog

Subtitles (en), selected

This is a modal window.

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

End of dialog window.

White House Headlines - September 3, 2026

White House Headlines - September 3, 2026

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official warned the agency about cutting corners in vetting officer candidates as the agency surged its hiring under the Trump administration.

The whistleblower report filed in August 2025 cited significant issues in how the department was reviewing its new hires, including making offers to candidates who had not yet passed background checks. 

The filing asked the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to investigate the matter. 

The New York Times on Thursday was the first to report the whistleblower report, filed by a high-ranking career ICE veteran who retired in July. 

In the report, which was also obtained by The Hill, the whistleblower flags “systemic breakdowns in vetting.”

“This unprecedented lowering of standards sacrifices proper risk mitigation for expediency, placing DHS at risk of infiltration and insider compromise,”........

© The Hill