Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Activists Entice ICE Agents to Quit by Finding Them New Jobs

Activists Entice ICE Agents to Quit by Finding Them New Jobs

The organization says within hours of launching the campaign, two ICE employees asked for help getting different gigs.
Protesters at ICE facilities sometimes chant “quit your job” at agents outside the lockups. Now an activist group is taking the message further: they’ll help ICE agents quit and find new jobs.

Since its launch this summer, the immigrant-rights group Never Again Action has held regular protests outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities. There have been confrontational encounters with agents, but also conversations that left activists wondering whether ICE employees might abandon the agency.

On Monday, Never Again Action’s Atlanta branch put that question to the test with a career services program for ICE agents who wanted to quit. Within 24 hours, two immigration employees had asked for help leaving their roles, the organization says.

Emily Baselt, an organizer with Never Again Atlanta, began considering the program in July, after a protest outside ICE’s Atlanta field office.

“A lot of the protesters were chanting ‘quit your job,’” Baselt told The Daily Beast. “I saw an interaction between one protester and a relatively young DHS [Department of Homeland Security] agent who was standing outside the building [...] The protester was asking him whether he was OK with what was happening at the border, if he was OK with kids in cages.”

The agent seemed conflicted, she said. “I could tell he was kind of wrestling with this a little bit.”

Morale in U.S. immigration agencies is reportedly low and sinking, likely a side effect of the Trump administration’s aggressive policies. Though President Donald Trump signed an order purporting to end a policy of family separations at the border last year, the separations reportedly continue under a loophole. The recent deaths of at least seven children in Customs and Border Patrol centers highlighted inhumane conditions, and an August ICE raid on Mississippi chicken factories became the largest workplace mass arrest in at least a decade.

In the CBP, which is a separate agency from ICE, plunging morale has reportedly contributed to an outbreak of officer suicides.


“My continuing thought has been that this level of activity combined with the disastrous policy of wholesale separating children from parents has a very negative impact on CBP personnel. They did not join to take a 2-year-old from his mother,” former CBP commissioner Gil Kerlikowske told Quartz in July.

Baselt said she is sure some people became ICE agents did so because they supported the agency’s mission. But she wondered whether other agents were eyeing the exits.

“I spent a lot of time thinking about the fact that it’s easy to say ‘quit your job,’ but it’s not always easy to walk out like that,” she said.

She and other Atlanta activists were inspired by the career services departments at universities, and wondered whether they could also provide career guidance for disillusioned ICE agents. On Monday, the Atlanta group launched a website that matches ICE agents with confidential career advisers, and held a demonstration advertising the website outside the Atlanta ICE field office. The launch date also had religious significance for Never Again Action, a Jewish-led group, since it went live the day before Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement.

The launch went viral on Twitter—mostly to a positive reception, although it caught some flak from the left. “We’ve had a couple people criticize it, saying that if they want to quit, they should just quit,” Baselt said.

But for at least two fed-up agents, the campaign was a welcome one. “Within maybe three hours of launching, we got our first request from a conscientious objector who wants help defecting,” Baselt said on Tuesday.

Although the campaign launched in Atlanta, both agents who asked for help changing careers worked elsewhere in the U.S., she added.

“Based on the two people who reached out to us, there are definitely people there who don’t want to be there,” Baselt added. “The defector who came in overnight is a Customs and Border Patrol agent who has been there for many years. The comment that person left was something like ‘I’m drowning in this place.’”
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Extreme Heat Wave Sweeps Across Europe, Hitting Record Temperatures
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Germany Votes to Suspend Family Reunification for Asylum Seekers
Budapest Pride Parade Draws 200,000 Participants Amid Government Ban
Southern Europe Experiences Extreme Heat
Xiaomi's YU7 SUV Launch Garners Record Pre-Orders Amid Market Challenges
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's Lavish Wedding in Venice
Russia Launches Largest Air Assault on Ukraine Since Invasion
Massive Anti-Government Protests Erupt in Belgrade
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Hungary's Prime Minister Criticizes NATO's Role in Ukraine
EU TO HUNGARY: LET THEM PRIDE OR PREP FOR SHADE. ORBÁN TO EU: STAY IN YOUR LANE AND FIX YOUR OWN MESS.
Hungarian Scientist to Conduct 30 Research Experiments on the International Space Station
NATO Members Agree to 5% Defense Spending Target by 2035
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
International Astronaut Team Launched to Space Station
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Iran Intensifies Crackdown on Alleged Mossad Operatives After Sabotage Claims
Trump Praises Iran’s ‘Very Weak’ Response After U.S. Strikes and Presses Israel to Pursue Peace
Oil Prices Set to Surge After US Strikes Iran
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
×