The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is facing around 10,000 Equal Employment Opportunity claims following a troubled hiring surge at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency under former Secretary Kristi Noem, a new investigative report reveals.
Noem announced last year that the upper age limit for individuals applying to ICE has been scrapped. However, months later, it was revealed that this was not the case in practice when a retired Ohio police officer was turned down for the job because he was “too old,” despite having been initially selected for the role.
In an investigative report published on the Substack PunchUp, Daily Beast journalist Tom Latchem reported that the 68-year-old former cop, identified only by his first name, Doug, applied to be a deportation officer at the agency on July 30, around the time when Noem made the aforementioned announcement.
NEW 🚨: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announces ICE has removed the “age cap barriers” to join the department.
ICE is looking to recruit 10,000+ new agents, and are offering a $50k signing bonus and $60k in student loan forgiveness.pic.twitter.com/3ot9ob2GBR
— Anthony (@anthonycabassa) August 6, 2025
Doug, who retired in 2019 after 23 “exemplary” years in law enforcement, said he received a tentative offer days later — a $127,000 base salary plus a $20,000 annual bonus — and began intensive virtual training.
He trained for four to five hours a day for several weeks while taking courses at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. He also read through a 400-page classified training manual, which he described as “critical sensitive.” “In the wrong hands, it could be used nefariously,” Doug told the outlet.
According to him, the hiring process for ICE was a “masterclass in dysfunction.”
Doug revealed that his posting was shifted from Atlanta to Indianapolis, then back to Atlanta, the day before he was about to start. At midnight on October 20, when he was supposed to start work, ICE allegedly pushed him back another week, saying there were too many recruits to process.
Then, four days later, he received a shocking email informing him that his job offer had been rescinded.
“It has been determined that you do not meet the eligibility for [the] age requirement for the position; therefore, the offer of employment is rescinded,” the email said, according to PunchUp.
🚨 JUST IN: DHS Receives 80,000 ICE Job Applications as Kristi Noem Announces Hiring Surge pic.twitter.com/OzTud7L2nm
— The Age Of Genz (@TheAgeOfGenZ) August 6, 2025
Doug had not received any compensation for the hours he had already put in at training and paperwork. He filed an EEO complaint on November 4, 2025, seeking either the job or over $40,000 in back pay and bonuses.
He recalled that an EEO official finally reached out to him on December 4 and that she sounded “exasperated.” Doug said that the official explained that the agency was overwhelmed with thousands of similar cases and clarified that Kristi Noem had never had the authority to remove the age limit, as it fell under HR’s jurisdiction.
Doug added that another HR representative later confirmed the cap had never been lifted.
Last August, DHS issued a public announcement featuring former Superman actor Dean Cain, saying that it was “ENDING the age cap for ICE enforcement.” The Department also claimed that qualified candidates could apply with “no age limit.” Before that, the mandatory retirement age for agents was capped at 60.
PunchUp has reportedly reached out to DHS four times, asking whether the age limit had actually been waived as the agency claimed and seeking confirmation of how many EEO cases had resulted from the recruitment surge. The agency has not yet responded.
