Morale is plummeting among ICE agents over long hours, quotas and public hatred: reports

Michie · Jan 26, 2026

While immigration officers support the Trump administration’s goal of deporting undocumented migrants, many of them have grown ‘disillusioned’ with leadership’s tactics, according to report

Morale is “plummeting” among federal law enforcement officers tasked with carrying out the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration operation, as they complained that long hours, ambitious arrest quotas and hatred from the public, according to reports.

While officers at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol, overseen by the Department of Homeland Security, said they supported the administration’s goal of deporting undocumented migrants, many of them have grown “disillusioned” with the tactics being implemented by leadership.

More than 20 current and former immigration officials told The New York Times of their discontent in the hours following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti by a federal agent in Minneapolis.

It was the second deadly shooting of a U.S. citizen carried out by a federal agent in weeks, as officers clashed with protesters following intense public anger over the violence in Minneapolis.

Continued below.

Morale plummeting among ICE agents over long hours, quotas and public hatred: reports

While immigration officers support the Trump administration’s goal of deporting undocumented migrants, many of them have grown ‘disillusioned’ with leadership’s tactics, according to reports

www.independent.co.uk

hedrick · Jan 26, 2026

Right. The lie is that there is no intermediate. It’s either open borders or Minnesota. I think its pretty clear that we can do enforcement with proper guidelines, training and accountability. But first, they have to get rid of the quotas and restore accountability. Recruitment ads that make it look like they’re attracting wannabe SEALs, with the military garb and masks would be good too.

iluvatar5150 · Jan 26, 2026

Ever worked at a place where a new manager or director or CEO rolled in, thought he knew everything w/o taking the time to understand the business, installed a bunch of yes-men, laid off a bunch of key people, gutted services, and made a mess of everything before leaving with a huge severence?

MAGA has taken that approach and operationalized it to the entire federal government. Virtually everything this administration has done has served to make the lives of federal workers miserable, including the workers they like working on the programs that would further their stated goals.

Tuur · Jan 27, 2026

iluvatar5150 said:
Ever worked at a place where a new manager or director or CEO rolled in, thought he knew everything w/o taking the time to understand the business, installed a bunch of yes-men, laid off a bunch of key people, gutted services, and made a mess of everything before leaving with a huge severence?

MAGA has taken that approach and operationalized it to the entire federal government. Virtually everything this administration has done has served to make the lives of federal workers miserable, including the workers they like working on the programs that would further their stated goals.

Because the usual way of doing things was working sooooo well.

iluvatar5150 · Jan 27, 2026

Tuur said:
Because the usual way of doing things was working sooooo well.

It was better than this.

I'm not saying there weren't plenty of areas for improvement - there were. But anybody with half a brain and a few minutes of work experience could've predicted how this all would go.

This is one way in which it's obvious to me that MAGA is borne out of a culture of toxic, low-quality media. The general schtick of these long-form political commentators is to rant on and on about a variety of ills, while offering "solutions" that are, at best, extremely shallow. In a lot of cases, their arguments are little more than straw men. That doesn't mean their complaints are completely unfounded - there likely is some amount of truth in there, but it's clear from their approach (i.e. ranting rather than interviewing and researching) that their goal isn't truly understanding and solving an issue. Their goal is building an audience via stoking outrage.

That's how Trump's entire second administration has approached everything. Musk/DOGE rolled in complaining about waste and then went about slashing a bunch of stuff they didn't understand, which broke a bunch of things without saving any money. Trump wanted a new ballroom, so he got to work tearing down what was there without first taking the time to work out how to rebuild it. MAHA correctly identifies problems with chronic health, but then slaps together some nonsensical claims about Tylenol and autism. Now Trump is eroding his force of deporters, because it turns out that a lot of them want to see themselves as respected professionals instead of jack booted thugs.

This is what life looks like when you spend all of your energy yelling instead of thinking and asking questions. Actually, I'd back it up a bit and say that this is what it looks like when you're consumed with pride rather than humility.

Tuur · Jan 27, 2026

iluvatar5150 said:
It was better than this.

I suppose the fraud uncovered so far never happened.

Rescued One · Jan 27, 2026

Christians will pray and God will win!

Rescued One · Jan 27, 2026

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.
NKJV Psalm 30:5

iluvatar5150 · Jan 27, 2026

Tuur said:
I suppose the fraud uncovered so far never happened.

What fraud are you referring to?

Tuur · Jan 27, 2026

iluvatar5150 said:
What fraud are you referring to?

Besides Learing Centers?

iluvatar5150 · Jan 27, 2026

Tuur said:
Besides Learing Centers?

Investigations into fraud in MN have been going since the Biden administration.

timewerx · Jan 27, 2026

Same story when Russia invaded Ukraine. They should be VERY thankful there are no drones exploding in their faces first thing in the morning!

Tuur · Jan 27, 2026

iluvatar5150 said:
Investigations into fraud in MN have been going since the Biden administration.

Uh-huh. And yet Walz was picked at Harris' running mate. So if the investigation was, as you say, ongoing, why wasn't it seen as a liability? And why, wasn't it covered in the media? Curious thing, that.

iluvatar5150 · Jan 27, 2026

Tuur said:
Uh-huh. And yet Walz was picked at Harris' running mate. So if the investigation was, as you say, ongoing, why wasn't it seen as a liability? And why, wasn't it covered in the media? Curious thing, that.

I haven’t followed it closely enough to know why they weren’t considered a liability, but they were covered in the media. Wikipedia is full of citations to past stories:

2020s Minnesota fraud scandals - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Tuur · Jan 28, 2026

iluvatar5150 said:
I haven’t followed it closely enough to know why they weren’t considered a liability, but they were covered in the media. Wikipedia is full of citations to past stories:

2020s Minnesota fraud scandals - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wikipedia says a lot of things...

RDKirk · Thursday at 4:00 PM

Tuur said:
Because the usual way of doing things was working sooooo well.

They were deporting a lot more people. So, yes, it was working better.

Tuur · Thursday at 6:32 PM

RDKirk said:
They were deporting a lot more people. So, yes, it was working better.

Including the previous four years? Seriously?

RDKirk · Thursday at 6:37 PM

Tuur said:
Including the previous four years? Seriously?

Biden's average monthly deportation rate was slightly higher than Trump's has been.

Tuur · Thursday at 6:43 PM

RDKirk said:
Biden's average monthly deportation rate was slightly higher than Trump's has been.

We'll see. A check with the Office of Homeland Security Statistics has the note for 2025 "so far." Being that 2025 has concluded, that means the data itself has not been compiled through some point in 2025. Thus the statistics for 2025 are incomplete.

The Barbarian · Thursday at 8:48 PM

Tuur said:
Because the usual way of doing things was working sooooo well.

Americans only think "better than it is now."

It’s been about one year since Donald Trump took office for the second time. In that time, his net approval rating has fallen from a starting high of +11.7 down to -14.1 today. That’s a nearly 26-point decrease over the past year. His approval on the issues is also down across the board between January 21st, 2025 and today:

Immigration: +7.0 —> -11.7
The economy: +6.0 —> -18.1
Trade/tariffs: -2.0 —> -17.5
The cost of living: -6.0 —> -28.7

How popular is Donald Trump?

Silver Bulletin approval ratings for President Trump — and all presidents since Truman.

www.natesilver.net

We hope the site problems here are now solved, however, if you still have any issues, please start a ticket in Contact Us

Morale is plummeting among ICE agents over long hours, quotas and public hatred: reports

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