Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in North Carolina have had their work cut out for them, identifying criminal aliens and removing them from the country, as the state was home to approximately 325,000 illegal immigrants in 2010.
In addition, ICE participates in the fight against drug trafficking in North Carolina. The federal government considers this problem to be severe enough that fifteen counties in North Carolina are included in the Atlanta HIDTA (high intensity drug trafficking area).
North Carolina has a well-developed transportation network that Mexican drug traffickers use as a primary corridor to transport drugs throughout the Eastern US, and move proceeds back to Mexico.
Application Requirements for ICE Jobs in North Carolina
Special agents (criminal investigators) of ICE carry out their mission to protect US security interests through their actions in North Carolina. There are a number of requirements that must be met to join this elite group of law enforcement officers.
Basic Requirements – All applicants must be citizens of the U.S. Additionally, unless they are veterans, applicants must be younger than 37 when they apply for jobs with ICE.
Educational Requirements – Applicants must either have attended graduate school for at least a year or have met one of several possible measures of distinction for their bachelor’s degree. This includes having one of the following:
- A high GPA for all courses or those in the final two years:
- A 3.5 in courses for their major
- A 3.0 in all courses
- Election to a national honor society
- Rank in the top third of their class
LEO Applications – Individuals who have had careers in one of the following areas may be exempt from part of the education requirement:
- Law enforcement officers
- Criminal investigators
ICE Training – Recruits who have passed the rigorous screening processes of ICE are sent to Georgia for 22 weeks of training at the Federal Law Enforcement Center. Their training entails academic coursework, physical conditioning, and gaining proficiency with firearms.
North Carolina ICE Operations in 2013
ICE agents in North Carolina investigate a variety of types of criminal conspiracies. They intercepted a number of illegal operations in 2013. Some of these successes are delineated below.
ICE agents were involved in disrupting a number of traffickers in 2013. In one case alone, three people were found guilty of shipping over 35 tons of marijuana to Charlotte. They had also transported millions of dollars back to their sources in California.
Another case involved the distribution of over $30 million worth of cocaine throughout North Carolina. A Mexican citizen was found guilty of conspiring to distribute heroin and cocaine throughout the state.
As the result of ICE’s ongoing Operation Predator, a North Carolina man was sentenced to the maximum penalty of 50 years in federal prison. He had tried to abduct teenage girls and had persuaded others to participate in explicit videos online.
An Indian national whose company was headquartered in Pineville pled guilty to conspiring to file fraudulent immigration documents. He had done this to obtain H-1B visas under false pretenses. The man also defrauded some of the foreign nationals that had been promised employment in the US.