Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is facing a significant challenge as it attempts to expand its workforce. Despite receiving nearly 200,000 applications for 10,000 new positions, the agency is struggling to find candidates who meet the necessary qualifications. ICE, which currently employs around 6,000 agents, aims to bolster its ranks, but the recruitment process is proving more complex than anticipated.

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin highlighted the issue, stating that while the number of applications has been substantial, the quality of applicants is lacking. A major stumbling block has been the inability of many candidates to pass a basic fitness test. Tom Homan, the former Border Czar under the Trump administration, emphasized the importance of physical fitness for federal law enforcement officers, noting, “If you can’t run a mile and a half, you probably shouldn’t be a federal law enforcement officer.”

The fitness test, which includes a 1.5-mile run, 32 sit-ups, and 15 push-ups within 14 minutes, has proven to be a hurdle for a significant portion of applicants. This issue is causing concern among ICE officials responsible for training. Reports suggest that the department’s leadership is frustrated with what they describe as a high number of “athletically allergic candidates.” Internal communications reviewed by The Atlantic reveal that at the Georgia training facility, approximately one in three recruits fails the fitness test, highlighting the scale of the problem.

‘It’s pathetic,’ one official said of the failing recruits. The high failure rate prompted ICE leadership to reportedly change the way they approach fitness screenings, prompting them to suggest fitness tests at field locations before recruits get sent to training camp. ‘We all know the self-certification method has failed,’ one ICE official reportedly lamented in an email with leadership.

To increase recruitment, ICE has offered generous incentives for recruits, like signing bonuses worth a full year’s salary – around $50,000. Recruits also spend much less time in training before being sent out to deal with migrants. The amount of time ICE agents spend at training in Georgia has roughly been cut in half under Trump, reportedly falling from around 16 weeks to just 8 weeks.