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A former Immigration and Customs Enforcement head says the Trump administration’s fast-tracked hiring drive and culture-war recruitment are a recipe for disaster. Obama-era John Sandweg warned that mixing ideological messaging with shortened vetting and training could have “catastrophic” consequences. DHS and ICE have pushed posts invoking The Lord of the Rings, medieval knights, and the Halo video game to frame immigration as an existential battle—content that is seen by critics as explicitly nativist and aimed at the “very online” right. At the same time, the agency has lowered entry barriers, with worrying results. Sandweg was ICE’s acting director for parts of 2013-2014, and is now a partner and expert on cross-border risks at international law firm Nixon Peabody. “When you combine this [messaging] with what appears to be really rushed and incredibly limited vetting and background checks, the bigger concern here is you’re getting people who have an agenda, who are just anti-migration,” Sandweg told The Dispatch. “This idea that you’re taking individuals who are not motivated for the right reasons, who harbor a grudge against immigrants, you give them incredible power, and you don’t give them proper training, and you’re not doing a proper background check... It’s just going to lead to potentially catastrophic results.” DHS says its campaign is working. Last week, it claimed more than 200,000 Americans have applied to join ICE law enforcement—part of a drive to add 10,000 deportation officers—after lifting age caps and dangling $50,000 sign-on bonuses. According to The Dispatch, there have been 18,000 tentative offers. Yet the department is still appealing to ICE retirees to “come home for one more mission,” circulating graphics and posts on social media targeted at former agents. The department has tried to launder criticism into recruitment fodder. After Saturday Night Live lampooned DHS Secretary Kristi Noem as “ICE Barbie,” the department repackaged the sketch into a real hiring ad.
