ICE agents’ morale sinking amid grueling hours, arrest targets and public hatred: Reports

WASHINGTON, DC: Federal law enforcement officials are no longer full of confidence as they have to work long hours and face public hatred amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Ambitious arrest quotas have also contributed towards their tumbling morale, reports have claimed.

Though officials have supported the government’s goal of deporting illegal migrants, many have shown disappointment in the way the operations have been carried out.

ICE operations are creating 'chaos'

The New York Times spoke with over 20 current and former law enforcement agents who spoke about their discontent following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti on January 24 in Minneapolis.

Pretti was the second US citizen killed by a federal agent. Earlier in January, Renee Good was killed by an officer named Jonathan Ross.

Oscar Hagelsieb, a former immigration officer and special agent, told the NYT, “You’re not addressing the problem by throwing a 500-pound gorilla into these inner cities. They’re causing chaos, and unfortunately it’s costing lives.”

“It’s completely unfair to the agents who have been put in this position. There’s only so much they can handle before bad things start to happen,” he added.

Former agent says ICE's tactics are 'far outside standard practices'

Gil Kerlikowske, who led Customs and Border Patrol during the Obama administration, slammed Top Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino’s “turn and burn” way of handling protestors and agitators.

He called the tactics “far outside standard practices in law enforcement,” before stating, “Morale is in the dumpster.”

However, Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary, has said in a statement to The Independent that ICE and border patrol agents “get up every morning to try and make our communities safer.”

“Like everyone else, our officers just want to go home to our families at night. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop,” she added.

Senior members of the Trump administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, were quick to justify Pretti’s fatal shooting. “This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement,” she had alleged.

ICE agent claims to lose trust in Trump administration

One current ICE agent, however, told the NYT that he had “always given the benefit of the doubt to the government in these situations” and now he no longer believed “any of the statements they put out anymore.”

Another agent added, “We lost all trust. I’m not sure I can see how we exist three years from now.”

Besides, Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin shared in a post on X that “more than half a dozen federal sources involved immigration enforcement, including several in senior positions, who all tell me they have grown increasingly uneasy & frustrated w/ some of the claims & narratives DHS pushed in the aftermath of the shooting.”

“All of the sources support the mass deportation agenda, but have serious hesitations about the way it is being carried out and the messaging that comes with it,” Melugin reported.