ICE and ISIS: A Tale of Two Recruiting Drives

Frantically searching history for precedents to the rise of ICE, most people think of the Nazis. Historians and podcasters have made comparisons to the Brownshirts; leaders as disparate as Minnesota’s Democratic governor Tim Walz and global superstar bro-caster Joe Rogan have likened ICE to the Gestapo. But as well as seeing scary parallels with the Aryan Vaterland, we should learn from paramilitaries in places Trump would no doubt dismiss as full of brown, poor, and Muslim people.

Looking at the lure of Islamic militant groups while researching my book Home, Land, Security: Deradicalization and the Journey Back from Extremism, I learned that people joined them for a raft of reasons. Radicalization that leads to joining a violent extremist movement is a complex process, but of the foot-soldiers to the Islamic State and the Pakistani Taliban I researched, few joined because of a burning religious fervor. Some craved belonging; others wanted adventure. In the case of the rural Pakistani youths recruited to the Taliban, many simply needed the work. By contrast, it was common for Western foreign fighters to join ISIS in the wake of trauma, like bullying, a relationship breakup or a divorce. Some youths just fell in with the wrong crowd, headed for the Islamic State.

I started my reporting imagining an ISIS fighter as a terrifying creature, dedicated to cruelty in the name of building a new Islamic caliphate. It’s undeniable that many of these recruits partook in heinous acts for destructive groups. And yet, as I learned about the conditions that pushed many towards joining up, coupled with the pull of the recruiters who skillfully targeted young people, I was able to see many ordinary recruits not as monsters, but as vulnerable youths who made dumb decisions.

Which brings me back to ICE. The murders in Minnesota, and the abductions, home invasions, and violence by agents around the country, make it hard to envision back-stories for the masked thugs terrorizing American cities. We don’t yet know much about the 220,000 people who have applied to join ICE, but we do know who’s recruiting them, and what their pitch is: money, brotherhood, big guns, and protecting real Americans from invaders. The Department of Homeland Security’s $100 million recruitment strategy has included geotargeting people on military bases, at gun shows, UFC fights, and NASCAR races. The campaign pitches the fight against immigrants “as a battle of good versus evil,” Drew Harwell of the Washington Post told Democracy Now!.

We’ve seen these pitches before from the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, deployed by well-funded recruiters saying they need you to fight an existential threat to your culture.

To see the parallels between ICE and jihadi recruiters, consider this post from DHS’s X account.

Clearly not an Islamic jihadi worldview, at first glance. The powder-blue leatherette in the 1981 Ford luxury van ad gives peak Burt Reynolds vibes. The table cries out to be covered in Flamin’ Hot Tangy Cheese Doritos, and its cupholders need cans of Coors Light.

But stay with me here for a second, and consider the subtext of the ad, analyzed in a piece by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Much like ISIS propaganda did during the 2010s, the Ford ad evokes a Golden Age fought for by a band of brothers. Where ISIS propaganda would promise recruits the Prophet Muhammad’s 7th-century Arabia, the Ford ad telegraphs Morning in America, a pivot back to the Reagan-era good times.

Four Captain’s Chairs, cozily angled inwards, sit above the caption—“Want to deport illegals with your absolute boys?”, depicting an ICE job as loneliness vanquished. Joseph Cox, founder of 404 Media, told PBS NewsHour that the DHS is targeting two groups targeted as potential recruits: Gen Z and those with experience in military or law enforcement. Both groups are known to have high rates of loneliness; social media has pushed up rates of loneliness for Gen Z, while over half of veterans report feeling lonely sometimes or often. The Ford ad guarantees you a group of guys. You’ll belong. The hosts of a podcast affiliated with the white nationalist group American Renaissance, notes the SPLC piece, drove home the brotherhood line. Commented one host: “You should, after a hard day of deporting illegals, sir, be able to kick back with your boys and laugh about what you just accomplished.”

Interviewing militants, scholars studying violent extremism, and the professionals working to rehabilitate ex-jihadis, I kept hearing about the need for belonging as a powerful draw for recruits, particularly among Western volunteers who felt lonely or marginalized in their own countries. Heading out to join the Islamic State promised acceptance—and ISIS propagandists knew it. Key to their public relations strategy were posts and photos “depicting istirāḥat al-mujāhidīn – fighters relaxing with tea and singing with each other – the propagandists emphasize the idea of brotherhood in the ‘caliphate’” wrote Charlie Winter, who researches communications strategies among terrorists and insurgents.

Like ISIS propagandists, the DHS has deployed action-packed videos to appeal to adrenaline junkies looking for adventure. Where ISIS posts referenced Call of Duty, ICE riffs on Halo with the slogan “Destroy the Flood,” equating immigrants to the game’s parasitic aliens.

To be sure, conventional militaries also dangle promises of cool tech, brotherhood, and adventure to get recruits. What ICE shares with ISIS and Al-Qaeda, however, is the speed and intensity of its recruitment drive, and its willingness to take pretty much anyone with a pulse. The DHS recently announced it had hired more than 12,000 ICE personnel in four months, including a left-leaning journalist after a single six-minute interview. The swelling ranks were undoubtedly helped by Secretary Noem dropping the age cap and the college degree requirement, opening applications to anyone over 18, and cutting training time in half, to a mere six weeks. “No Age Cap,” read the ICE poster, showing a heavily armed grizzled man and what looks to be a teenager, “Join ICE Now.” Above the image, another promise: “We’re taking father-son bonding to a whole new level.” (Again, the hint of a society riven with loneliness. Again, a recruitment ad playing on people’s desperation to connect.)

A tough economy, with signing bonuses up to $50,000, student loan forgiveness, and something the DHS website calls “Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime for Enforcement Removal Operations,” must make it an alluring offer for the cash-strapped. The chance to “remove the worst of the worst out of our country,” as the DHS website puts it, panders to patriotic sentiments. For the student drowning in debt, the single mom trying to make ends meet, the gun nut, the bored, and the xenophobic, I can imagine the appeal.

Groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS also practiced this Something For Everyone recruitment approach. Writing on Al-Qaeda’s attractions for foreign fighters back in 2010, Colonel John M. “Matt” Venhaus noted that the militant group catered to a wide range of needs: “Revenge seekers need an outlet for their frustration, status seekers need recognition, identity seekers need a group to join, and thrill seekers need adventure.” I remember how artfully ISIS deployed its arguments to young Muslims. Recruiters targeted the angry and alienated, and told them they’d see battle. Hard-core neotraditionalists were told they’d see a perfect Muslim state, just like the one in Prophet Muhammad’s day. Diary of a Muhajirah, a propaganda site written by an ISIS recruit, targeted young women with tales of the manly warriors of the Islamic State, living a life of stripped-down religious vigor.

By the time I finished my research on Islamic militancy, my fury and fear were not so much for the people who answered these siren calls. I reserved most of my ire for leaders who hid behind outrageous interpretations of Islam to plot plain old-fashioned power grabs. I saved the rest of my disgust for the groomers and the commanders who led them into battle.

It’s difficult now, looking at the scenes across the United States, to see ICE agents and to feel more than profound loathing. But in the future, if we are ever to heal as a country, we’ll have to reckon with why the puppet-masters in Washington were able to find so many puppets.