ICE Cant Find Fitness for Fascism, Apparently
So, the 'tough-on-crime', 'secure the border' crowd is apparently recruiting agents who can't pass a basic physical fitness test. The Independent [1] frames it as 'pathetic,' which, granted, has a certain ring to it. One might wonder if the physical demands are less about 'fitness' and more about the psychological fortitude required to enforce policies that separate children from families, deport
asylum-seekers, and generally preside over state-sanctioned cruelty. When you're ramping up an agency notorious for abuses and low morale, perhaps the talent pool isn't exactly peak athleticism. The push to add tens of thousands more ICE agents, as Trump has pledged, comes conveniently devoid of discussion about the historical precedent of such rapid expansions of state power. It's not about
'border security' so much as it is about creating a domestic force capable of accelerating mass deportations, a project that is already deeply entangled with private prison profiteers and surveillance technology firms. The 'fitness test' isn't what's failing; it's the moral compass of an entire apparatus. One might also notice how a similar lack of rigorous screening fails to prevent other forms
of state violence, particularly within policing across the nation.