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submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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

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.

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[-] EndOfLine@lemmy.world 122 points 1 month ago

Morale is plummeting among ICE agents

I'd like to know how this compares to the morale crisis reported about 6 months back. Is it consistent or has it gotten even worse.

as they complained that long hours, ambitious arrest quotas and hatred from the public

Total lack of empathy. Their complaints are all about the impact on them. "We work too long, too hard, and without proper recognition". No thoughts given to the cruelty that they release into the world.

many of them have grown “disillusioned” with the tactics being implemented by leadership

Is it just the actions of leadership that bother them and not their own actions? Is their complaint not that they are murdering, harassing and unlawfully targeting the most vulnerable among us (children, elderly sick, etc) because they don't like the color of their skin? What changes are they hoping to see? Parades that celebrate their cruelty? Pizza parties for the team with the youngest person disappeared? An Amazon gift card for the most laws ignored in a month?

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

Nope. It is completely fair. They are 100% responsible for their own actions. The agents are the ones committing these acts. They can refuse illegal orders, they can resign, they can obstruct, they can be whistleblowers.

"The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop."

Aaah, so close. They almost had a moment of recognition.

“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,” ... “Many of the sources have expressed frustration that ICE is routinely blamed for the actions of Border Patrol, a completely separate agency.”

Again with the complete lack of personal responsibility or awareness of the consequences of their own actions

[-] prole 61 points 1 month ago

“The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop.”

Unbelievable.

[-] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 25 points 1 month ago

this is the propaganda machine at work. this is what the moral apathy of a man turned empty vessel. this is the banality of evil. it has been with us for decades, even centuries. this form of evil is common many places.

it is, unfortunately, extremely believable

[-] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago

Total lack of empathy.

It is my unfounded, unsubstantiated belief that this is the biggest reason why ICE was chosen for the gestapo-like role they have now. If you take every last department with manpower and guns, the role of "disrupting and upending the lives of otherwise peaceful people" is far and away the one responsibility that differentiates it from all other roles. Like working in an abattoir, empathy just gets in the way of processing illegal immigrants for deportation. A total lack of empathy was a job requirement before all this kicked off. We shouldn't be surprised that this is what we're up against.

[-] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 18 points 1 month ago

"The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop."

simply enforcing the law

That's going to be the "I was only following orders" of the American Nuremburg Trials.

[-] unphazed@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Sounds like a bunch are just covering their asses with the "just following orders" line. Look, you can follow orders, ones you may not even be privy to even being lawful (I'd imagine there might be assumptions made in a few scenarios), but the moment you learn a warrant wasn't signed, or that excessive force is used, etc. You are now culpable and an accomplice to a crime. I can watch a friend a rob a bank, but if I do nothing, even if I'm told to be quiet about it, I will be tried for that crime as well.

this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2026
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