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In January 2026, a rumor spread that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had hired, with minimal background checks, a freelance journalist who had been an outspoken critic of ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
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Laura Jedeed, the journalist in question, wrote an article for Slate magazine recounting how ICE hired her in the fall of 2025. To independently verify the story, Snopes requested from Jedeed communications between herself and the agency, as well as any other documentation related to the alleged employment.
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Jadeed complied with this request, including an email exchange regarding a drug test as part of the application. This exchange was with an employee of a health care company that provides services to the federal government. Snopes confirmed that the employee worked for the healthcare company. Additionally, we reviewed what appeared to be an email from ICE’s human resources team acknowledging that Jedeed declined a “provisional job offer.”
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Snopes sent that documentation from Jadeed to DHS, seeking its response to the journalist’s claim that ICE hired her as a deportation officer. The agency did not return our inquiry, though we’ll update this report if that changes. However, on X, DHS dismissed Jedeed’s account as a “lazy lie.” He said he may have received a “provisional selection letter”, which asks for more documents to confirm a job offer.
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There was no indication that the documentation Jadeed provided to Snopes was not authentic. However, due to the fact that we could not directly confirm his account on the federal government employment platform, we could not give a rating to this rumor. DHS has not provided any evidence of its claim that Jedeed lied.
In January 2026, a rumor spread online that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hired, with minimal background checks, a freelance journalist who was openly critical of ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The claim comes from journalist Laura Jedeed herself, whose article appeared in Slate, a left-wing online news magazine. On January 13, 2026, Jedeed posted a link to her report on X (archived). The headline read: “You’ve heard about who ICE is recruiting. The truth is much worse. I’m the proof.” Her X post said:
A few months ago, ICE hired me
I didn’t sign or file any papers. I’m very open about my opinion of the Trump administration and I’m extremely Googleable
And yet there it was, in plain English. “Welcome to ICE!”
Several Snopes readers emailed us to verify the story, in part because DHS denied Jedeed’s claim in an X post. Calling Jedeed’s story a “lazy lie,” the government agency appeared to admit that the journalist may have received a “provisional selection letter” — a letter informing her that she passed the interview stage, but asked for more documents. This letter, however, was not a job offer (archived). DHS X’s post said:
This is such a lazy lie.
This individual was NEVER offered a job at ICE.
Applicants may receive a provisional selection letter following the initial application and interview which is not a job offer. It just means they are invited to submit information for review just like any other applicant.
At Snopes’ request, Jedeed provided us with alleged evidence of communications he received from a federal government employment platform and ICE human resources. We reviewed emails, documents, images and videos.
Snopes sent that documentation from Jadeed to DHS, seeking its response to the journalist’s claim that ICE hired her as a deportation officer. The agency did not return our inquiry, though we’ll update this report if that changes.
I checked the domain names and links in the Jedeed documentation, confirming that they lead to websites related to ICE and the hiring platform (usastaffing.gov). As part of our review of documentation related to an alleged drug test for the claim, we confirmed the identity of an employee of a health care company who allegedly texted Jadeed about the alleged screening.
Direct verification of Jadeed’s account on ICE’s employment platform would help Snopes corroborate his story. However, Jedeed said he lost access to his account after turning down the job offer, although he provided a video allegedly showing he had surfed the tool previously. The internet address in the registration was legitimate.
There was no indication that the documentation Jadeed provided to Snopes was not authentic. However, due to the fact that I could not directly see her account on the federal government employment platform, I could not give a rating to this rumor. DHS has not provided any evidence of its claim that Jedeed lied.
Jedeed’s documentation
Jedeed provided a screen recording he captured while browsing what appeared to be an online employment portal for ICE. She shared a version of the recording on X with the private information removed. Snopes reviewed the unaltered (archived) record.
Contradicting DHS’s claim that Jedeed lied about employment, the video showed a series of green checks in what appeared to be a tracker for her application. According to the clip, Jedeed has reached the “onboarding” phase of the hiring process, past the “final offer” phase. At 0:36, the screen read:
5 out of 5 Incorporation
Welcome to Ice as . Your work location is New York, New York. your EOD [Entry on Duty] it was Tuesday, September 30, 2025.
(Laura Jedeed)
Later in the video (0:49), Jedeed clicked on the “pre-engagement” tab – the third phase according to the alleged tracker. The tab showed several tasks completed as of October 6, 2025, labeled “physical,” “medical,” and “background investigation.” The drug test appeared completed earlier on September 25, 2025.
(Laura Jedeed)
Jedeed emailed Snopes on September 3, 2025 with the subject line “TEntative Selection Letter (DHA) -Jedeed, Laura -“. This appeared to be the letter referenced in DHS’s X post. She was said to have been “provisionally selected” for the position of “Deportation Officer, GL-1801-5″ from New York:
(Laura Jedeed)
The email included documents and forms: a self-reported fitness test, medical self-certification and screening by a doctor confirming the applicant’s medical fitness to join law enforcement. She was told she would have to take a drug test to be hired. Snopes found the fitness test, a self-assessment form, on page 20 of a 2022 ICE manual. I also found the same law enforcement medical clearance form on the ICE website.
Drug test and “provisional job offer”
Jedeed also shared documentation related to the drug test, including two emails from a national security case manager at the health care company that works with the federal government, DOCS Health. That person, whom Snopes won’t name to protect his privacy, sent him a reference number and requested to take the drug test at a Labcorp branch in Brooklyn, New York, before 10:19 a.m. on Sept. 24, 2025, according to Jadeed’s filing.
Snopes verified that the case manager has been employed at DOCS since November 2024, based on social media history and websites with employee data. The case manager’s social media profile described the job as: “Arranges for pre-employment medicals and drug screenings for applicants to the Department of Homeland Security.”
In her Slate article, she he stated She had smoked marijuana six days before the drug test and was sure she would fail. However, Jadeed said he completed the drug test. The video recording of her account on the employment platform appeared to confirm that she passed on September 15, 2025 – the day after she was due to take it.
The case manager’s email to Jedeed corroborated the information in Jedeed’s screen recording that she sent to Snopes. We have reached out to the case manager to request more details and will update this report if we hear back.
Finally, Jedeed provided Snopes with a document that appeared to be a December 8, 2025 email from the “Human Capital Human Resources Operations Center (HROC) Personnel Office, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” This email appeared to acknowledge that she had turned down the “provisional job offer” (I’ve underlined the phrase in red):
(Laura Jedeed)
For further reading, Snopes previously investigated Legal authority of ICE to arrest US citizens.
Do you have more information about the ICE hiring process? Please get in touch.
Sources:
ICE manual. www.ice.gov/doclib/foia/policy/handbookHSI_22-05_07.19.2022.pdf. Accessed 15 January 2026.
Medical authorization form for the application of the ICE law. www.ice.gov/doclib/forms/30-048.pdf. Accessed 15 January 2026.
Jedeed, Laura. “You’ve heard about who ICE recruits. The truth is much worse. I’m proof.” Slate MagazineSlate, 13 Jan. 2026, slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/01/ice-recruitment-minneapolis-shooting.html. Accessed 15 January 2026.
Ibrahim, Nur. “Can ICE Arrest US Citizens? Explaining Agents’ Legal Authority”. SnopesSnopes.com, 15 Jan. 2026, www.snopes.com/news/2026/01/15/ice-authority-arrest-us-citizens/. Accessed 15 January 2026.
Winter, Jessica. — The slate is not too liberal. But…’. SlateMay 21, 2015. slate.comhttps://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/05/is-slate-magazine-too-liberal-or-conservative-what-members-said-about-the-magazines-bias.html.