December 12, 2014, - 3:07 pm

Immigration Agency ICE Ranks LOWEST of Govt Agencies: WORST Place to Work Under Obama, Say Employees

By Debbie Schlussel

What’s the worst government agency to work for under Barack Obama? Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ICE agents rank their agencies as THE WORST place to work in the U.S. government. Morale at the agency ranks lower than at any other government agency, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, where ICE ranks 314th out of 314 agencies. That’s because of Barack Obama’s de facto immigration amnesty policy and the soon-to-get-worse de jure immigration amnesty policy.

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Many times over the years, I’ve written about the low morale at ICE. It was low and got lower each year under President Bush. But it was far lower under each year so far of President Obama, and it’s gotten to the lowest point possible. When your agency ranks 314th out of 314 government agencies, you know things are very bad and, in this case, about to get even worse. Yes, with ICE, this really isn’t rock bottom. It’s false rock bottom because once the Obama amnesty policy is in full effect, things will get even worse. Clearly, the Obama proposed pay raise to ICE agents to silence them isn’t making them happier about what’s going on with U.S. immigration policy. Note that ICE is the largest sub-agency in the Department of Homeland Security.

And e-mail being sent around between ICE agents says this:

Woo Hoo, we’re #1 . . . . I mean 314 out of 314!!!!!

We need to celebrate! We are officially the WORST agency in the entire federal government to work for.







It bears noting that many of the ICE agents who sent me the info about ICE ranking dead last (and tied with another Homeland Security agency, the Office of the Under Secretary for Science and Technology), are FORMER ICE agents happy they are either retired or left to other agencies or jobs in the private sector. Says one former ICE agent:

LOL–so glad I left!

I know of no one who misses working at ICE. I know plenty of agents who miss the way things were when they worked for the U.S. Customs Service Office of Investigations and the INS, both of which were merged into ICE. But President Bush and Joe Lieberman made this mess, inventing an ineffective, useless, bloated giant bureaucracy that does little to make us safe.

And you wonder why agents who cannot do their jobs are miserable there.

America . . . turn out the lights before you shut the door.






14 Responses

It is grotesque. They have turned ICE into a social welfare and diaper changing agency. Why anyone would work there at this point is beyond me.

Debbie does point out that this mess really got going when the Department of Homeland Security was created. It is an example of bureaucratic bloat and ineptitude that rivals the worst fiascos at the Internal Revenue Service.

Worry on December 12, 2014 at 4:48 pm

I” bet they all vote Barry S., though. Sure, they bitch and moan, but that’s standard for gubmint employees.

They know who butters their bread. The Obamic Plague years have been the best for Fed employees, ever.

DS_ROCKS on December 12, 2014 at 4:51 pm

And with this it reminds of the early days of 2003 just before the merger when managers like Kyle E. “Bully” Barnette (Ever Vigilant Sheepdog) were going around the office proclaiming the impending merger was going to be the greatest thing to ever happen and how then “BICE” later “ICE” now “HSI” was going to be the power broker of federal law enforcement. What a joke!! This agency has been in a nose dive since it’s creation. I hate my job and am still trying to leave! Maybe EVS’ little buddy “Priceless” will turn things around at HQ? hahahahahahahahahaha I’m masking my tears with laughter…

notanEVSfan on December 12, 2014 at 6:02 pm

What’s amazing, is that HSI has the lowest employment standards for GS-1811s (Special Agents) in the federal government. HSI is hiring people who cannot speak, read, or write English, people who are gang members, drug addicts, and mentally unstable people, etc.; in other words, people who could not even get a job at the local Wal-Mart.

One would think that employees who could not find work anywhere else, yet who now earn six-figure salaries, and get fulltime use of a government-issued car, would be overjoyed that they, one, got a high paying job with great benefits, and, two, are not required to actually work–and job satisfaction ratings should reflect that.

Interestingly, HSI management is apparently blaming the low ratings on ERO, as it is their belief that everyone at HSI loves the agency.

King David on December 12, 2014 at 7:41 pm

    Oh! It’s Queen David, the least reliable source on this blog.

    skzion on December 13, 2014 at 9:02 pm

Politics and lawyers ! The agency has to many lawyers that are involved in the day to day operations. They put out directives verbally instead of in writing so nothing will come back to haunt them. Why risk your life or career arresting someone who will be back on the street fast tracked to a green card after the lawyers use their discretion to decline prosecution. At least with Customs and INS the mission was clear. Even the customs mission now is clouded

Emdice on December 12, 2014 at 8:12 pm

I left this waste of an agency years ago, and not for retirement. I left to go to another agency. After joining Customs and then getting ram-rodded into ICE, the agency has simply sucked ever since. It’s a joke, and I’m so glad I abandoned ship. Good luck with this disaster of an agency, and thanks for continually validating my decision to leave.

Ex ICE on December 13, 2014 at 11:00 pm

Skzion – hate to admit that King David is right on the money on ALL counts.

ERO is not to be faulted and I can attest to everything being true. New agents cannot even write – they text on ROIs and we STILL do not have physical standards, the hiring standards just do not exist. The HSI academy does not even have written exams anymore – they’re all open book. We have lost all credibility in the Federal Law Enforcement. It’s all vocational education…IT IS ALL TRUE!

We don’t even require a degree in 2014, working for HSI nowadays is abysmal, I’m down to the number of quals I have left since four years IS still a long ways off until I pull the plug on this waste of an outfit. This organization is rife with nepotism and merit is not rewarded – it’s all about who YOU know, not your abilities.

Ex ICE – congratulations, a whole lot of us are seeking another sane outfit.

Cannot wait on December 14, 2014 at 9:13 am

It continues to get worse!

Being ranked the last is no surprise to any of us who are still working for that miserable agency. Of course the clowns running HSI would blame the low morale totally on ERO when in reality it’s the other way around. For example, how can someone have high morale when they close 4 overseas offices and send 17 agents home from overseas posts due to supposed budget concerns however, they are opening an office in Australia where the current AD for international ops, Lev Kubiak, will become the attache. No announcement, no competition, no selecting the best qualified, no concern on the perception of the good ole boy system still existing, etc. How long can this nepotism, favoritism, and incest continue to go on in HSI? Another example is having an unqualified DHS policy wonk running HSI Intelligence and who has never, ever, been an intelligence officer, special agent, or anything remotely related to being a law enforcement officer. How can a law enforcement agency and it’s various components be run by non-law enforcement types? Maybe the new director of ICE will change things? We can only hope and pray.

No Surprise on December 17, 2014 at 8:50 am

I have been around for decades. The low morale seemed to hit about the time when Doris Meissner came on-board with the [legacy] INS. The political climate changed over night. The word “alien” was no longer being used and we were all of a sudden not required to do the job we had once done. Enforcing immigration law was no longer something HQ wanted us to do. I quit fighting it and quietly retired.

#1 Vato on December 17, 2014 at 11:29 am

No surprise here….let’s move on. I did several years ago and never looked back because I’ve never missed it. I, along with many other legacy INS, Customs, and now ICE personnel who’ve posted on this site, have been telling the uninformed and unsuspecting masses the state of dis-affairs at this cluster of an agency but nobody listened. It’s hard to hear with your head buried in the sand.

Don’t look for anything to change with the new and improved “ICE Princess” slated to take over….it’ll be the biggest giveaway since the OK land rush!

IceNoMore on December 17, 2014 at 12:32 pm

Clearly an agency can only become “the worst place to work” when agents cannot do the job they signed up for. It can’t just be this or that leader.

This figure tells us the truth, and there’s no spin that can possibly hide this truth.

skzion on December 17, 2014 at 2:33 pm

The things that go on in this “Law Enforcement Agency” are so crazy I don’t think anyone would believe it if I told them. I’m an ERO “Agent” and started working for ICE in 2006. I am very, VERY proud of 99.99% of the people I work with (including the “managers”) but our Agency overall is totally FU*&ED up! Top to bottom, left to right! We are completely ineffective and need to just be disbanded and rolled into CBP I think. Pull the plug and let “ICE” die. Hey, HSI already has! Lol

13YearsLeft on December 17, 2014 at 4:00 pm

I’m a former HSI/ICE SA, who is happy now, not to be working for the federal government in general. ICE has real, and major management problems but overall the federal government was vindictive place to work. Look at the stuff thats going on in any of the law enforcement agencies or intel agencies… FBI, USSS, NSA, CIA, even the IRS. My advice to any 20-something looking to for into the federal service? Your probably better off marrying a citizen of an EU country and trying to find work with one of their governments… treat their people much better.

X-ICE on January 17, 2015 at 2:51 pm

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