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. He worked there for nearly 20 years before being caught again for child molestation and sexual exploitation of minors.
Brashad Johnson’s job was to conduct DHS background investigations. He was later convicted of soliciting prostitution involving a minor.
Other agents allegedly used the power and access of their jobs to target victims.
Fernando Saucedo III was accused of sexually assaulting two sisters, 17 and 19, inside a CBP field office. The government later paid the younger sister $125,000 to settle her civil lawsuit. Arizona agent Ramon Marquez was charged with 15 felonies after allegedly exploiting a Border Patrol youth program to abuse a 16-year-old girl at his home, during trips and inside agency facilities.
The report also highlighted former ICE special agent John Jacob Olivas, who was 48 when sentenced in 2023, and received life in federal prison for sexually assaulting two women before using his position to silence them. Prosecutors said he brandished his credentials and threatened to have victims arrested on false charges, according to the Justice Department. One victim testified that Olivas made her believe he was “invincible” to the justice system.
It also includes former Border Patrol agent Shane Millan, who was sentenced to a year in federal prison after admitting he ordered women to expose their breasts over webcam while falsely presenting his demands as lawful immigration searches. He pleaded guilty to two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, the Justice Department said.
Those failures carry added urgency as ICE rapidly expands its workforce, the alliance says. The report cites an NBC News investigation from last October which found recruits had reached the agency’s training academy without completing required fingerprinting and background checks.
Officials subsequently discovered candidates with failed drug tests, disqualifying criminal histories and pending charges. The Daily Beast reported that insiders had billed the process as a “s--t-show.”
DHS has also acknowledged that some employees started work before their full background investigations were complete. DHS said that ICE rigorously screens its personnel and described vetting as “an ongoing process, not a one-time occurrence.”
In April, after Trump removed Kristi Noem, 54, as DHS secretary, PunchUp was the first outlet to report that ICE had abandoned its expedited training scheme and was re-vetting all its new hires from the Noem era.
Building on a finding from the Ohio Immigrant Alliance’s previous investigation, which PunchUp reported last month, the situation appears to be worsening under Donald Trump.
The alliance documented 14 cases from 2025 and another 22 during the first eight months of 2026. Taken together, they represent nearly a quarter of its entire 44-year dataset. The previous annual high was 11 cases in 2024.
The report said the increase could reflect greater scrutiny, rapid hiring, weaker vetting, a larger workforce, more offending—or a combination of those factors.
The alliance called on Congress to freeze ICE and Border Patrol hiring and rescreen the entire workforce for histories of domestic violence, sexual violence and extremist activity. It also demanded mandatory reporting of criminal charges, automatic dismissal following a conviction and independent watchdogs with the power to subpoena agency records.
DHS did not respond to a request for comment.
Tom Latchem exposes the secrets, scandals, and stories that powerful people and institutions want to keep under wraps. Follow all of his reporting at PunchUp on Substack.
