What are the minimum age, height/weight, and medical requirements for new ICE ERO agents in 2025?
Executive summary
In 2025 ICE/ERO requires applicants to pass medical and fitness screening and complete Basic Immigration Law Enforcement training; DHS materials and ICE job postings say applicants must complete a pre‑employment medical exam, drug screen and a physical‑fitness test, and meet medical standards reviewed by ICE’s Pre‑Employment Clearance unit [1] [2] [3]. Age rules changed in 2025: DHS announced it would lift the previous upper cap so older applicants may apply and said 18‑year‑olds can sign up, although some vacancy notices and legacy guidance still reference being referred before age 40 [1] [4] [5].
1. What ICE’s official 2025 announcements actually say about age
The Department of Homeland Security public statements in mid‑2025 said DHS/ICE would “waive age limits” and that “there’s no longer a cap on how old you can be,” while also saying 18‑year‑olds could apply; the DHS recruitment push framed this as expanding the applicant pool [1] [4]. Yet ICE USAJOBS vacancy materials and legacy career FAQs continue to show references to being “referred for selection before your 40th birthday” or initial cut‑off procedures tied to set dates — indicating public messaging and job announcement language are not fully harmonized across all documents [5].
2. Minimum age in practice: public statements vs. job notices
DHS spokespeople publicly stated 18 is eligible and upper limits are removed [4] [1]. However, ICE recruitment pages and some USAJOBS postings still include older phrasing about referral timing and cut‑off dates, and historically many ICE law‑enforcement vacancies required applicants to be at least 18 [5]. Available sources do not provide a single, consolidated ICE regulation text that replaces the former statutory or OPM age referral language; applicants should treat public DHS announcements as policy direction but confirm the specific vacancy announcement for firm age requirements [1] [5].
3. Height/weight: no single ICE‑wide chart in these sources
None of the official ICE pages in the provided materials publish a simple, agency‑wide minimum height and weight table for ERO recruits. Vacancy announcements require fitness testing and medical clearance but do not list fixed height/weight minima in the cited snippets [5] [3]. Some training and career guides cite that law‑enforcement programs often have height/weight standards or body‑composition rules like other federal or military services, but those are secondary sources and not ICE policy documents [6] [7]. Therefore: available sources do not mention a specific ICE ERO minimum height or weight standard for 2025 [5] [3].
4. Medical requirements and process — what the agency specifies
ICE requires a pre‑employment medical examination and submission of recent medical records for surgeries or restrictions; the exam goes to ICE’s Pre‑Employment Clearance (PEC) unit and may trigger a Medical Review Board if concerns arise. Candidates must meet ICE medical standards to continue; there is also routine drug screening and fitness testing tied to academy attendance [2] [3] [1]. ICE career FAQs state trainees must successfully complete training programs (BIETP/other) and the Physical Abilities Assessment as a condition of continuing .
5. Fitness testing — format and consequences
Multiple ICE materials and job notices say a physical‑fitness or Physical Abilities Assessment is required — for Deportation Officers this includes a kneel/stand test, push‑ups, and a cardiovascular step test in some postings — and failure can remove an applicant from the hiring/training pipeline [8] [3]. Training programs historically lasted 13–16 weeks for ERO, though reporting shows training length and curriculum were under revision in 2025 as DHS scaled up recruiting [9] [10].
6. Competing viewpoints and why the picture is inconsistent
DHS public messaging in 2025 aimed to broaden eligibility and amplify applications (notably saying waivers on age caps), while operational vacancy announcements and longstanding regulatory referral rules retained older language or cut‑off mechanics — creating mixed signals [1] [4] [5]. Independent career guides and news reporting fill gaps but sometimes assert degree requirements or strict age ceilings that the DHS statements contradicted; those guides are informative but not authoritative ICE policy [6] [11] [4].
7. Practical advice for applicants and limits of current reporting
Given the mismatch across sources, applicants should: treat DHS announcements as policy shifts but verify the specific USAJOBS vacancy for concrete eligibility language; prepare for a mandatory pre‑employment medical exam, drug test and physical‑fitness assessments; and expect medical documentation if recently injured or surgically treated to be required by PEC [1] [2] [3]. This summary is limited to the provided reporting and official excerpts; available sources do not mention a consolidated 2025 ICE table for minimum height/weight, nor a single regulatory text explicitly superseding prior age referral rules [5] [2].