ICE’s identity-shielding and the speed of the agency’s hiring expansion have prompted scrutiny after an Associated Press investigation found potential problems in the backgrounds of some newly hired officers and agents, according to the reporting.
The AP said it focused on more than 40 officers who publicly posted their new jobs on LinkedIn and used public records to examine financial, legal and employment histories. The investigation also pointed to the federal government’s announcement earlier this year of what it described as an unprecedented hiring spree, in which ICE said it completed an expansion that added 12,000 new officers and special agents.
ICE’s hiring drive and vetting timeline became a central concern in the AP reporting. The AP said it found that some newly hired employees began working before passing background checks and had financial, legal and employment problems in their histories. The investigation said the secrecy surrounding ICE employees’ identities — ICE shields identities and says it does so to protect employees from harassment — makes a full accounting of the new hires difficult.
The AP reported that one example involved Carmine Gurliacci, a 46-year-old who resigned as a police officer in Richmond Hill, Georgia, to join ICE in Atlanta in December. AP said a resignation letter obtained through a public records request showed he joined the agency after the resignation, and that court filings showed he filed for bankruptcy in 2022 after saying he had no income and had been unemployed for two years after moving from New York to Georgia. The investigation said the filings listed tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid loans, bills, child support and other debts, and that Gurliacci also filed for bankruptcy in 2013 in New York, listing $95,000 in liabilities.
The AP said Gurliacci, who worked for six Georgia law enforcement agencies in three years, declined comment. The AP also reported that the investigation found two other new ICE hires with recent bankruptcies, including an officer and an agency lawyer, and that several other new hires had previously been sued over unpaid debts.
AP included commentary from a former ICE official, Claire Trickler-McNulty, who served as an ICE official during the Obama, first Trump and Biden administrations. She told AP that financial problems are a “pretty big red flag” because they might make candidates susceptible to bribery and extortion attempts. The AP reporting also noted that ICE might attract cash-strapped candidates after advertising signing bonuses of up to $50,000.
The AP reported that another example involved Andrew Penland, 29, who joined ICE after resigning in December as a sheriff’s deputy in Greenwood County, Kansas. AP said he left after facing a lawsuit alleging that he arrested a woman on false allegations in 2022, and that the county’s insurer paid $75,000 to settle the lawsuit, according to the agreement described in the investigation.
AP said June Bench, the woman who brought the lawsuit, told the investigation she was outraged to learn Penland had been hired by ICE and said she had unsuccessfully pushed authorities in Kansas to review all of his arrests and take disciplinary action against him. The AP said Bench described the situation as “scary” and said Penland “abuses his power” in his work for ICE. After being reached for comment, the AP reported, Penland deactivated his LinkedIn account and alerted ICE to the inquiry but did not respond to AP.
The AP also described misconduct concerns tied to other new hires. It said the investigation found two other new ICE employees who had been sued for allegedly improperly using force in prior law enforcement jobs, but that those cases were dismissed.
Beyond the individual examples, the AP reported that ICE’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, did not answer questions about specific hiring decisions. However, the department acknowledged that some applicants received “tentative selection letters” and offers to begin working on a temporary status before they had been subjected to full background checks, according to the AP report. DHS said in a statement to AP that ICE is committed to ensuring law enforcement personnel are held to the “highest standards” and that “Vetting is an ongoing process, not a one-time occurrence.”
AP reported that the background investigations can take weeks and include reviewing criminal histories and credit scores and conducting background investigations that can involve interviewing prior employers and other associates. In the AP account, the scale and pace of hiring has strained the agency, which advertised that college degrees were not required.
The investigation also cited an internal memo reported earlier by Reuters in February. AP said the memo told ICE supervisors that if they receive “derogatory information about a newly hired employee’s conduct,” they should refer allegations to an internal affairs unit for investigation, including information such as termination or forced resignations. During a congressional hearing in February, AP said ICE acting director Todd Lyons described the hiring expansion as a way to execute the president’s and secretary’s agenda and said he was proud of the campaign that drew more than 220,000 applications.
As the federal workforce expands into roles described as having immense power and national security importance, the AP reporting leaves questions about how quickly vetting processes can be completed, and how supervisory systems handle potential red flags surfaced during the hiring pipeline.