Laura Jedeed’s experience exposes gaps in vetting at an agency central to immigration enforcement
Ever wonder what it takes to become a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer under the Trump administration? Freelance journalist Laura Jedeed has the answer: not much.
Jedeed, 38, decided to test the ICE hiring system herself last August by pulling up to an ICE career expo in Arlington, Texas, that promised on-the-spot hiring and a $50,000 signing bonus.
On paper, Jedeed is a viable candidate for what she calls “America’s Gestapo-in-waiting.” She grew up conservative in Colorado, weaned on books by libertarian icon Ayn Rand. She joined the U.S. Army after high school and deployed to Afghanistan twice with the 82nd Airborne Division.
But a glance at her second act, much of it spent in Portland, should have made her a hard pass for ICE brass looking for muscle in its Minneapolis show of force. After his second tour in Afghanistan, Jedeed determined that the war there was bullshit. His superiors didn’t know the basic facts needed to build a peaceful nation, like the structure of 20 ethnic groups and the myriad clans in each one.
Jedeed switched careers and became a journalist. She got a bachelor’s degree from Reed College—not exactly an ICE feeder school—and interned for U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). Her Reed thesis was titled “Making Monsters: Right-Wing Creation of the Liberal Enemy.” She became a journalist and wrote a story for WW about a right-wing protester firing gunshots—her first hard news online.
Given her sharp left turn, and an easy-to-find AntifaWatch dossier on her, Jedeed figured she had no chance of becoming one of President Donald Trump’s Brownshirts. But ICE surprised her. She got a tentative offer on Sept. 3, pending a background check and a drug test. Weed is legal in New York City, where Jedeed now lives, and she had smoked six days before.
But even that didn’t disqualify her. Nor did the fact that she hadn’t filled out any of the required paperwork or signed a single document. She logged on to USAJobs and learned that she had become an agent. Jedeed detailed her bonkers ICE experience in a story for Slate on Jan. 13 titled “You’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof.”
