Whitehouse Demands DHS Produce Information on Disturbing Recruitment Tactics and ...

The letter comes amid broad criticism of agents’ tactics after two American citizens were killed

New ICE whistleblower testimony warns of a “broken” training program for new recruits

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, is demanding answers from Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on the Department’s recruitment tactics – which appear to facilitate the hiring of agents with a history of violet extremism – and questionable hiring standards for ICE agents as the Trump administration races to scale up hiring.

Whitehouse’s letter, which was sent Monday, emphasizes recent concern about the tactics of ICE agents who have been ordered into major cities and have killed at least two American citizens. Recent ICE recruitment ads have featured white supremacist symbolism, including a slogan popular with the Ku Klux Klan and a song written by members of a white-nationalist group. Now, DHS has reportedly hired as its digital communications director an individual who posted white supremacist content as a communications aide for the Department of Labor.

Whitehouse wrote to Noem in the new letter, “In recent ICE recruitment ads, DHS has ‘included images, slogans and even a song used by the white nationalist right.’ Such tactics are especially dangerous against the recent backdrop of the agency’s increasingly violent policing tactics, which have resulted in the deaths of two American citizens and been roundly condemned by law enforcement professionals across the country.”

At the same time, DHS has watered down its admission standards for ICE recruits, eliminating its age requirement and reportedly placing new recruits into training before they completed the agency’s vetting process. Recruits have begun training with failed drug tests, disqualifying criminal records, or inadequate physical or academic requirements to serve. On Monday, a resigned ICE instructor came forward as a whistleblower, describing what he saw was a “deficient, defective and broken” training program with a pared-back curriculum.

*“The perfect storm of an ongoing recruitment campaign laced with white-supremacist dog whistles, diluted hiring standards, and DHS’s own vetting history makes DHS an attractive target for violent extremists or militia members looking to infiltrate law enforcement—a threat the FBI and experts have long warned about. DHS should be doing everything it can to prevent this outcome, as opposed to actively encouraging it,” *Whitehouse concluded.

Whitehouse requested answers to the following questions by March 9, 2026:

• Which officials at DHS or its component agencies are responsible for advertising, social media, and other public-facing campaigns to recruit new ICE and CBP officials?
• Which individuals are involved in the drafting, posting, and approving of social media posts for DHS and its component agencies, including the examples below?
• DHS’s October 22, 2025, Instagram post with the caption “America for Americans”?
• DHS and ICE’s August 11, 2025, Instagram post with the caption “Which way, America man”?

• DHS’s January 9, 2026, X.com post with the caption “We’ll have our home again”?

• What outside firms or vendors have been involved in the drafting, posting, and approving of advertisements and social media posts for DHS and its component agencies since January 20, 2025?

• What outside firms and vendors were involved in the drafting, posting, and approving of the advertisement in DHS’s October 22, 2025, Instagram post with the caption “America for Americans”?

• What outside firms and vendors were involved in the drafting, posting, and approving of the advertisement in DHS and ICE’s August 11, 2025, Instagram post with the caption “Which way, America man”?

• What outside firms and vendors were involved in the drafting, posting, and approving of the advertisement in DHS’s January 9, 2026, X.com post with the caption “We’ll have our home again”?

• In 2025 and 2026, has DHS or its component agencies hired, coordinated, or otherwise worked with any social media “influencers” as part of ICE and CBP recruitment campaigns? If so, which ones?

• Does DHS have an official definition of “domestic violent extremism”? If so, what is it and when was it adopted?

• Do background checks for all applicants include an assessment of potential connections to violent extremist or terrorist organizations? If so, in what form does that assessment occur?

The full letter is available here.