Are there specific physical fitness requirements for ICE agent jobs?

1. What the agency says: a mandated PFT and medical screening

ICE’s public hiring guidance and component pages make clear that passing a pre‑employment PFT is an explicit step in the selection pipeline for law‑enforcement recruits — Special Agent candidates must pass a PFT before entering duty and again to graduate from academy training — and applicants also face medical and drug screening as standard steps ^{[1] [3] [4]}.

2. What the tests look like in practice: sample events and historic forms

ICE and related federal training documents show job‑related physical tests that mirror common law‑enforcement screens: timed runs, push‑ups/sit‑ups or similar strength/endurance events, and practical performance standards used by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers and earlier DRO/Immigration Enforcement Agent testing guidance ^{[1] [5] [2]}. Independent reporting and leaked documents published by outlets have described one commonly cited screen of a 1.5‑mile run, 15 push‑ups and 32 sit‑ups in 14 minutes — a formulation that has appeared in media coverage of recent classes and résumé aggregations of ICE fitness requirements ^{[6] [7]}.

3. Variation across components and roles — it’s not one single universal number

The requirement to pass a PFT is consistent, but the specific standards and when they are administered differ by ICE component and hiring pathway: Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) materials specify their own Physical Fitness Test expectations for Special Agents, the Office of Detention and Removal historically used separate DRO PFT guidance, and FLETC/CBP fitness graduation standards are referenced for academy performance requirements, meaning recruits can face different test batteries depending on position and training site ^{[1] [2] [5]}.

4. Enforcement, failure rates and political context

Recent reporting has highlighted that a substantial share of early‑class recruits failed the fitness screen and that leadership changes and hiring pushes have adjusted age and hiring rules while retaining the PFT and medical screens; critics and some outlets have used low pass rates and relaxed age caps to argue standards are being diluted, while DHS/ICE respond that screening remains and many hires are prior‑service candidates who follow streamlined but still present medical and fitness requirements ^{[6] [8] [4]}.

5. Sources, disputes and limits of what’s documented

Official ICE pages, component PFT guidance, FLETC materials and media stories together document that fitness tests exist and outline typical events, but publicly available sources do not produce a single, immutable “ICE fitness standard” that applies identically to every ICE job or every recruiting cohort; variations by component, hiring authority (lateral vs. entry), and periodic policy shifts mean some reporting (including exact replications of a specific push‑up/sit‑up/run formula) reflects particular classes or documents rather than a universal permanent rule ^{[1] [2] [5] [7]}.

6. Bottom line: specific requirements exist, but details depend on job and program

The straight answer: yes — ICE law‑enforcement positions require candidates to complete and pass a PFT and medical screening as part of hiring and academy attendance, with HSI and enforcement components publicly stating PFT requirements and training documents showing typical test events; however, the concrete pass thresholds, the timing of tests, and whether lateral/experienced hires are subject to identical standards vary across components and have been the subject of reporting and administrative change ^{[1] [2] [3] [5]}.