A supervisor within Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Professional Responsibility warned last year that the agency was hiring thousands of new officers without completing basic background checks, a practice that violated federal rules and jeopardized the agency. The official’s concerns were detailed in a whistleblower complaint dated August 2025, which was recently made public.
According to the complaint, ICE’s human resources division was extending job offers before preliminary vetting steps, including fingerprinting, identity verification, and credit checks, were finished. The whistleblower stated that this "unprecedented lowering of standards sacrifices proper risk mitigation for expediency, placing DHS at risk of infiltration and insider compromise." The complaint was first reported by The New York Times and a related memo was obtained by The Associated Press from the official’s lawyer, Kevin Owen.
ICE announced in January that it had hired 12,000 new officers in under a year, funded by a $75 billion congressional allocation to boost arrests and deportations. This rapid hiring initiative, which included a $50,000 signing bonus, had previously raised concerns about the quality of new hires. An earlier Associated Press investigation found that some new employees had significant financial issues, prior misconduct allegations, or inconsistent employment histories.
In July, the White House border czar, Tom Homan, announced that ICE would investigate an incident where an officer involved in a fatal shooting of a motorist in Maine. The whistleblower complaint highlighted that these "systemic breakdowns in vetting" contravened federal rules designed to ensure candidates are suitable for sensitive law enforcement and national security roles. The complaint also stated that the lack of thorough vetting created "increased vulnerability to insider threats, infiltration and foreign influence," impaired ICE’s law enforcement operations, and diminished public trust.
The complaint requested that the inspector general investigate the vetting failures, that ICE suspend the improper practices, hold responsible parties accountable, and review recent hires for potential insider threats. ICE acknowledged in prior reports that some applicants received “tentative selection letters” and began training before their background investigations were concluded.
The whistleblower represents a second insider to voice concerns about ICE’s expedited hiring process. Ryan Schwank, a former ICE lawyer and academy instructor, stated that the agency had reduced training on the use of force, firearms safety, and protester rights. The Department of Homeland Security has since increased the training requirements for new officers. ICE stated that the whistleblower is no longer with the agency and that its Office of Professional Responsibility diligently applies all relevant personnel vetting regulations and evaluates all available information for every applicant.