Inside a Homeland Security forum where ICE agents talk about other agents

Every day, people Log in to an online forum for current and former Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officers to share their thoughts on the news of the day and file a complaint about their colleagues at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“ERO is too busy dressing up as Black Ops Commandos with tactical body armor, drop-down thigh devices, balaclavas, multiple M4 magazines, and Punisher patches, to conduct an administrative arrest of a 90-pound, 5-foot-2, non-criminal, non-violent EWI, inside a secure federal building where everyone has been screened for weapons,” one user wrote in July 2025. (ERO stands for Enforcement and Removal Operations; along with HSI, it is one of the two main divisions of ICE that is responsible for detaining and deporting immigrants.)

The forum describes itself as a space for current and prospective HSI agents, “designed for the experienced HSI special agent as well as applicants for entry-level special agent positions.” HSI is the division within ICE whose agents are typically responsible for investigating crimes such as drug smuggling, terrorism, and human trafficking.

On the forum, users discuss their discomfort with the United States’ mass deportation efforts, discuss the way federal agents interact with protesters and the public, and complain about the state of their working conditions. Members also had heated discussions about the shooting of two protesters in Minneapolis, Rene Judd and Alex Peretti, and the ways in which immigration laws are enforced across the United States.

The forum is one of many related forums where people who work in different parts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) share experiences and discuss specific details of their work. WIRED previously reported on a forum where current and former deportation officers from ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) similarly complained about their jobs and discussed the way the agency was conducting immigration raids. The HSI forum appears to be related, and even includes some of the same members.

People do not need to show proof of their employment to join these forums, and the platform does not appear to be heavily moderated. WIRED has not confirmed the individual identities of these posters, though it shares details that are likely only known to people with intimate knowledge of the job. There are over 2,000 members with posts dating back to at least 2004.

The Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to requests for comment.

After the murders of both Jude and Preeti, the forum members were deeply divided. In a thread dated January 12, five days after ICE Agent Jonathan Ross shot Good, a poster who had been part of the forum since 2016 wrote, “IMHO, the situation with ICE operations has reached an unprecedented level of violence from both suspects and the general public. I hope the Attorney General will consider temporarily suspending civil liberties, (during and in geographic areas where ICE operations are conducted).”

One user who joined the forum in 2018 and identifies as a recently retired agent responded, “This is an excellent and well-justified idea. This is well-organized, well-funded civil unrest, dare I say insurrection?!?”

In a January 16 post titled “Shooting,” some posters took a more nuanced view. “I realize that’s a good shot legally and all that, but all he had to do was step aside, and he almost shot one of his accomplices for God’s sake!” “Non-criminal USC woman shot in the head on TV why? Just doesn’t sit right with me… Seems to me that an experienced SRT guy who was able to execute someone while holding a phone could have simply moved out of the way,” wrote a poster who first joined the forum in March 2022. SRT stands for ICE’s elite Special Response Team, which undergoes special training to work in high-risk situations. USC refers to United States citizens.