ICE Agents Busted Using Badges to Sexually Abuse Victims

Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images A damning report says DHS hired, retained, and sometimes promoted immigration agents despite warning signs of violent or predatory behavior—with some using their authority and access to sexually assault, abuse, or stalk women and children.

PunchUp reports that the Ohio Immigrant Alliance examined scores of cases of ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and related government contractors who were charged, convicted, or sentenced for violent or sexual offenses over the past six decades.

Its list also includes, the Daily Beast’s sister Substack reports, several senior officials who faced what the organization deemed credible sexual-misconduct allegations.

Of the 152 people identified between 1982 and 2026, 131—86.2 percent—were charged with or convicted of sex offenses.

Eighty-five were accused or convicted of crimes targeting children.

Seventy-eight cases involved sex offenses against children, making that the largest category in the data.

The organization found that 69 cases, or 45 percent, were directly connected to the person’s immigration-enforcement work.

It states: “These cases demonstrate how the badge itself became a weapon—a tool for coercion, intimidation, and access to vulnerable people—or a ‘get out of jail free’ card.

These are not agents who happened to commit crimes; they are agents who weaponized the authority the government handed them.” The alliance cautioned that its list is a targeted collection of documented cases, rather than a comprehensive list or a measure of offending across the entire DHS.

It does, though, argue DHS failed at both ends of the employment process.

The department, it says, missed potentially disqualifying histories while screening recruits, then failed to remove some personnel after warning signs emerged on the job.

The report notes that ICE does not examine family-court records or dismissals from previous employers during background checks and warns there is “no way of knowing” how many people with histories of domestic violence or sexual assault have been hired or promoted.

Some agents remained in the agencies for decades.

Dana Ray Thornhill was convicted of sexually assaulting a child as a juvenile but was later hired by the Border Patrol.