“Don’t expect much”: ICE agents are venting about missing pay and benefits on Reddit

ICE agents have been venting online about missing paychecks and delayed benefits.

The U.S. government made promises to ICE recruits

Recruitment materials had emphasized stability with competitive pay and benefits, including overtime pay, health insurance, life insurance, and a retirement plan.

ICE agents were offered signing bonuses of up to $50K, while student loan repayment incentives climbed to $60K. The department also advertised retention bonuses. However, posts later suggested those offers lagged behind start dates, or failed to appear at all.

Not only that, but the contracts involved for those signing bonuses also came with a significant amount of fine print.

As @xcxxcxcxv noted on X, "They didn’t read the fine print, which states they have to be there 5 years in order to get the full bonus. The contract states if they leave before 5 years, they need to REPAY any overtime, bonuses & hotel stays during employment Most won’t be able to afford to quit. It’s a trap."

The locked subreddit r/ICE_ERO functioned as an unofficial forum for ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) agents.

The description of the subreddit explained that it was "[an] unofficial forum for current Deportation Officers, prospective applicants and retired Deportation Officers to have a platform for discussion."

One new hire wrote that after two months on the job, they still lacked health insurance that they needed to care for their sick child.

Other users focused on pay delays. "Monday is four weeks since I started and I haven’t been paid yet," one officer wrote.

While another mentioned a bonus of around $6K after taxes, they complained that deductions cut the payout to about $5K.

The Daily Dot was not able to independently verify the legitimacy of these Redditors.

Reactions to the ICE agents' complaints

On X, @girldrawsghosts shared several screenshots of comments that spread as critics piled on to make fun of the ICE agents. The OP noted, "Like obviously they’re not recruiting from the rocket scientist bench but how stupid do you have to be to think you’re actually going to get paid by this administration lmao."

@Mayo_And_Chip wrote, "these people are such a waste," alongside a screenshot of an ICE officer complaining about hotel reservations being canceled.

@nolife_liam mocked them, saying, "imagine being so desperate that you work for the gestapo for a month without pay."

@WesPip mused, "What are the chances that they either shut down or totally clean house right before the 50k signing bonus has vested? No way Trump would ever screw people working for him, right? Right?"

"It's so jarring to see them talking about a job where they break into people's houses and kidnap people from school and their workplace as standard operating procedure like it's a mundane office job," @DaemahnFriday tweeted.

Still, a caveat circulated alongside the outrage. "Anyone could pose as a member on these Reddit boards. There is no way to know if any or indeed all are genuine ICE employees," @NakedWookieeUK noted.