How does ICE evaluate applicant criminal history during the hiring process?
Executive summary
ICE’s formal vetting combines a security/background investigation (including fingerprints, criminal-history disclosure, drug testing, financial checks and sometimes a polygraph) and fitness/medical screens; ICE’s careers pages state background vetting typically begins after a tentative offer and can take weeks to months [1] [2]. Recent reporting shows, however, that during a 2025 hiring surge some recruits entered training before all vetting steps were complete and a small number were later dismissed for criminal charges, failed drug tests or unmet standards [3] [4] [5].
1. How ICE says it checks criminal history — formal steps and disclosures
ICE’s personnel-vetting guidance says once a tentative offer is accepted the agency initiates a background investigation that starts with fingerprinting and security/e‑application forms; those forms explicitly collect criminal-history information along with residence, employment and financial history [1]. Job announcements and vacancy pages add that applicants can expect criminal-history inquiries, possible credit and financial reviews, drug testing, medical and fitness exams, and in many law‑enforcement roles a polygraph [6] [7] [1].
2. What disqualifies you — what public sources describe as “immediately disqualifying”
Multiple news outlets quoted ICE or DHS officials saying drug use and disqualifying criminal histories can be immediate bars to employment; Axios summarized that “Drug use and criminal histories are immediately disqualifying” as reported by ICE/DHS sources [8]. ICE’s public job materials also indicate that certain criminal offenses and illegal drug use are part of the financial/suitability and background screens that can prevent final hiring [6].
3. Timing: when vetting normally happens versus what 2025 reporting found
ICE’s online guidance frames vetting as beginning after a tentative job offer and taking on average about three months — though it can vary from two weeks to a year depending on the applicant and clearance level [2]. However, NBC, CNN and other outlets reported that during the accelerated 2025 hiring surge some recruits were sent to training before background checks, fingerprinting or drug testing were fully completed; agency staff discovered disqualifying records or failed tests while recruits were already in academy classes [3] [4] [5].
4. Consequences when vetting is incomplete — dismissals and flagged cases
Reporting from October 2025 said a subset of recruits were dismissed in training for criminal charges, failed drug tests or failure to meet fitness/academic requirements; one piece of reporting cited “just under 10” dismissed for criminal charges in a reviewed data subset and other outlets referenced more than 200 dismissals for various shortcomings during the surge [3] [4]. CNN and other outlets also noted at least one case where an outside law‑enforcement agency flagged an informant to ICE, prompting removal from the candidate pool [5].
5. Why the gap appeared — hiring surge, direct-hire authority and staffing strain
ICE’s how‑to‑apply pages explain the agency had been granted direct-hire authority for critical roles, allowing faster appointments; ICE said security vetting averages three months but can be expedited or variable [2]. Multiple news reports tie the lapses to a rapid effort to hire thousands of officers in 2025 combined with heavy application volume (hundreds of thousands of applicants) and stressed HR capacity, which critics say increased the risk that steps were skipped or delayed [3] [9] [5].
6. Conflicting portrayals and limits of the reporting
DHS and ICE spokespeople pushed back, saying many new hires are experienced law‑enforcement officers who follow different pipelines and that some published figures reflect subsets of candidates, not agencywide practices [3]. Available sources do not mention a comprehensive internal audit that quantifies how often criminal-history checks were omitted across the whole hiring surge; reporting focuses on examples, data subsets and official statements [3] [4] [5].
7. Practical takeaway for applicants and watchdogs
ICE’s public materials make clear applicants should expect to disclose criminal history, submit fingerprints, pass drug and medical/fitness screens and potentially a polygraph — and those checks are official parts of vetting [1] [6]. But independent reporting warns that during an unusually rapid expansion in 2025, some candidates reached training before all checks were finished, and a minority were later removed when vetting caught disqualifying issues [3] [4] [5].
Limitations: this summary is based on ICE’s public career pages and contemporaneous news reporting from October 2025; available sources do not include an exhaustive ICE internal policy manual or a comprehensive post‑surge audit quantifying all vetting failures [1] [2] [3].