{"id":43155,"date":"2025-08-10T12:29:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T19:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=43155"},"modified":"2025-08-10T12:29:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T19:29:04","slug":"what-could-possibly-go-wrong-trumps-ice-is-now-recruiting-teenagers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/08\/10\/what-could-possibly-go-wrong-trumps-ice-is-now-recruiting-teenagers\/","title":{"rendered":"‘What Could Possibly Go Wrong?’: Trump’s ICE Is Now Recruiting Teenagers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Father<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security published this social media recruitment pitch with the caption, “We’re taking father\/son bonding to a whole new level,” to announce the lifting of Immigration and Customs Enforcement applicant age limits, on August 6, 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo: U.S. Department of Homeland Security\/X)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“ICE opening up recruiting to teenagers because they can’t find enough adults willing to be their racist storm troopers is some real dystopian shit,” said one critic.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

BRETT WILKINS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aug 06, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’re taking father\/son bonding to a whole new level.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s how the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday told social media users<\/a> that it is lifting age limits for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) applicants\u2014evidence, critics said, of the Trump administration’s desperation to fill the ranks of federal agencies tasked with carrying out its cruel and illegal<\/a> anti-immigrant policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a move reminiscent of how the U.S. military attempted to stem flagging enlistment during the George W. Bush administration’s so-called War on Terror by\u00a0lowering recruitment standards<\/a>\u00a0to welcome felons, gang members, white supremacists, and\u00a0high school dropouts<\/a>, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0Wednesday that “we are ENDING the age cap for ICE law enforcement.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/x.com\/TVietor08\/status\/1953215070919602424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1953215070919602424%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fice-lifts-age-limits<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approved applicants will be joining an agency rife with human rights and legal abuses as it scrambles to satisfy alleged ICE arrest quotas<\/a> and President Donald Trump’s desire to carry out the biggest mass deportation campaign in the nation’s history\u2014a campaign of kidnapping<\/a>, unlawful imprisonment and expulsion<\/a> of innocent people, family separation<\/a>, concentration camps<\/a>, terrorization<\/a> of American communities, alleged torture and sexual crimes<\/a>, and many other outrages<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noem told<\/a> Fox & Friends<\/em> Wednesday that in addition to lifting the 40-year-old age cap, ICE applicants can now be as young as 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What could possibly go wrong?” independent journalist Tina Vasquez quipped<\/a> on Bluesky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author Patrick S. Tomlinson wrote<\/a> on X that “ICE opening up recruiting to teenagers because they can’t find enough adults willing to be their racist storm troopers is some real dystopian shit.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday’s announcement is the latest Trump administration effort to lure 10,000 new recruits, including by\u00a0offering<\/a>\u00a0$50,000 sign-up bonuses and student loan repayment assistance\u2014policies that can be paid for thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s\u00a0historic funding<\/a>\u00a0for ICE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/x.com\/NAACP\/status\/1950665354981621982?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1950665354981621982%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fice-lifts-age-limits<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some critics pointed to a similar move to increase recruitment at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, where lower hiring standards resulted in increased reports of sexual misconduct and corruption<\/a> among Border Patrol recruits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If they start waiving requirements there like they did for Border Patrol, you’re going to have an exponential increase in officers that are shown the door after three years because there’s some issue,” former senior ICE official Jason Houser told<\/a> The Associated Press<\/em> last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunrise Movement<\/a>, the youth-led climate campaign,\u00a0offered some friendly advice<\/a>\u00a0for those considering working for ICE: “Instead of joining the Gestapo, perhaps find a unionized workplace that’s not involved in kidnapping instead.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BRETT WILKINS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security published this social media recruitment pitch with the caption, “We’re taking father\/son bonding to a whole new level,” to announce the lifting of Immigration and Customs Enforcement applicant age limits, on August 6, 2025.  (Photo: U.S. Department of Homeland Security\/X) “ICE opening up recruiting… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43155"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43156,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43155\/revisions\/43156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}