Two Days Talking to People Looking for Jobs at ICE | Yanis Varoufuckice
www.nplusonemag.com
This is a disgusting country, I thought, irredeemable visually, psychically, morally, and ethically, and whatever is likable about our people’s warm patter does not in any way forgive what we have done to the world. Furthermore, it isn’t hard to bring politeness and evil into view at the same time.

Customs and Border Patrol, the Coast Guard, and the Secret Service were all recruiting at the event, but ICE was the main draw. Far more applicants stood in line to submit their resumes for deportation officer than for any other position on offer in the cavernous room.

Naturally there were a large number of law enforcement types hanging around the convention—men with military fades, moisture-wicking shirts, and tattoos of the bible and the constitution and eagles and flags distended across their arms. But there were also a handful of women ICE applicants and a lot of men of color. The deportation officer applicant pool was, I felt, shockingly diverse—one might say it looked like America. The whole place looked and felt like America.

  • astronaut_sloth@mander.xyz
    15·
    2 days ago

    My decade of experience working with the military says otherwise.

    There is a small minority who joins to kill people, probably like 5%. It’s way too high, but it’s still in the vast minority. Most officers and NCOs, in fact, prefer thinking personnel so that war crimes aren’t committed and laws are followed while still accomplishing a commander’s intent. While I’ll admit that there is a cavalier attitude toward collateral damage (which is a separate issue), war crimes, a la Eddie Gallagher, are generally not tolerated.

    Of course, with a vet bro SecDef, war criminals will become more numerous and have a sense of impunity. It’s why the vast majority of service members I work with have a disdain (some rather openly) for Hegseth.