Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded $10,000 bonuses to several recruits who did not meet the necessary training standards, failed open-book exams, or were deemed unsuitable for the roles, according to exclusive information obtained by the Daily Mail.

Sources within the agency report that these inadequately vetted candidates collectively received approximately $1.5 million in bonuses funded by taxpayers. This initiative was part of the Department of Homeland Security’s urgent campaign to recruit 10,000 new deportation officers by the end of the year.

The Trump administration only became aware of this oversight months after the recruitment drive commenced, and is now attempting to recover the disbursed funds, insiders have disclosed.

A revealing report by the Daily Mail last week highlighted how inadequate vetting procedures and signing bonuses as high as $50,000 attracted a surge of underqualified applicants. These candidates were hastily approved by an overwhelmed human resources department, which granted them ‘Enter on Duty’ status with minimal scrutiny.

It has now been uncovered that a significant number of these new hires received an initial $10,000 payment merely for attending, due to ambiguities within the application process.

‘In their hurry to write this bonus structure and to incentivize people to apply, they didn’t make the signing bonus contingent on actually qualifying for the position,’ a DHS official told the Daily Mail. 

‘If you show up and you quote-unquote ‘Enter on Duty,’ you get a $10,000 signing bonus whether or not you pass the academy.’ 

Questioned by the Daily Mail, An ICE spokesperson would not say how many flunkies received the incentive, but one official estimated it was 150 applicants. 

About 150 dud applicants received an automatic $10,000 despite failing basic training during the DHS’s campaign to hire thousands of new deportation officers, the Daily Mail can reveal. It is unknown if this particular recuit was one of them

ICE’s $30 billion recruitment campaign began in July, with the DHS issuing ads featuring Uncle Sam reading, ‘America has been invaded by criminals and predators. We need YOU to get them out’

Another official told the Daily Mail: ‘At first, we were wondering why all these sh***y students were showing up for training, and then later were like, “Wait, we’re giving them a free $10,000?”

‘Yes, that’s idiotic, but that was the deal, that’s what the announcement said,’ the second source said. 

‘It was a sign-on bonus for simply putting in by a certain date and getting hired.’

Since the recruitment campaign began in July, 584 recruits have failed out of the academy as of December 1, according to records reviewed by the Daily Mail.

After being alerted to the issue, the department attempted an about face, sending an alert to the new hires, including those at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia, as well as retired law enforcement officers who don’t require academy training, and newly hired ICE attorneys.

The Daily Mail obtained a copy of the notice, titled ‘Updated Incentive Payment Information,’ sent out in mid-November on behalf of the Office of Human Capital, the department’s HR arm.

‘OHC previously communicated recruitment incentives would be paid within 90 days of employees onboarding into an eligible position,’ the notice reads.

Under the revised policy, it adds, ‘recruitment incentives will be paid after successfully completing initial required training and firearms qualification necessary to carry out the duties of the position.’

The agency has since revised its policy so that recruitment incentives are paid out to applicants after they have successfully completed training

ICE’s rush to hire 10,000 new recruits by the end of December devolved into chaos after the agency drastically lowered its standards to meet its goal, insiders told the Daily Mail. Pictured: ICE trainees practice at a shooting range in Georgia 

And for those with prior law enforcement training, incentives will be paid out only after 90 days from their EOD date or after completing initial required training (if required) and firearms qualification – whichever is later,’ the notice states.

ICE officials wouldn’t acknowledge the error or discuss specifics but suggested any employees who flame out will have their bonuses revoked.

‘Employees are required to acknowledge that they are obligated to repay the $10,000 recruitment incentive payment received if they separate from ICE within the first 24 months of service, including if they do not maintain minimum performance standards or are separated for cause,’ a spokesman stated.

However, insiders tell the Daily Mail that it won’t be so easy to recoup those bonuses given the ‘messed up announcement.’

They described this as just one of the failures in a hiring campaign they’ve described as a national embarrassment.

An exhaustive Daily Mail investigation has exposed how ICE has lowered standards so dramatically that the new cohort now includes recent high school graduates and applicants who can ‘barely read or write’ as well as those who lack basic physical fitness and even have pending criminal charges.

Most of the new hires in the $30 billion initiative are retired law enforcement who are receiving virtual training and being repurposed for desk duty.

Meanwhile, total novices are being fast-tracked into the training academy, where instructors have been left astounded at the levels of incompetence.

In August, DHS invited the media to tour the academy, a sprawling facility near the coast in Brunswick, Georgia. An instructor was seen demonstrating getting a 170lb dummy into a position to be handcuffed 

The scrambled effort to more than double the size of its deportation force come as a bid to fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to supercharge deportations

‘We have people failing open-book tests and we have folks that can barely read or write English,’ one Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official told the Daily Mail.

‘We even had a 469lb man sent to the academy whose own doctor certified him not at all fit for any physical activity.’

Insiders say the vetting process has been so rushed that officials didn’t even wait for drug test results to come back before hiring recruits and flying them off to Georgia, only to discover afterward that tests came back positive.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has told President Trump that the department will hire its 10,000th ICE officer by this Friday.

However, insiders attribute the outcome to the lowering of standards.

‘We are bringing in people with the understanding that many of these people are not going to make it,’ one DHS official told the Daily Mail.

‘They only care about how many unique individuals ‘Enter on Duty.’ What happens after that is irrelevant to them.’

Sources tell the Daily Mail that many of these recruits won’t be street-ready or even trained to fully process arrests.

The chaotic initiative – which costs $30 billion – has been described by insiders as a ‘national embarrassment’ 

‘Even those who identify as former law enforcement, they’re not being properly vetted and require basic training,’ the official said.

‘We’re getting folks that are not going to be truly operational because they can’t be placed on at large teams to make arrests.

‘People are also coming from other law enforcement agencies where they don’t have the experience to do detailed immigration work,’ the source added.

But those older recruits, often returning after years of absence, do serve a greater purpose as far as the leadership is concerned.

‘They can come on board without the training or the check so that we can say that we’re getting close to meeting the goal,’ the source said.