Clergy and others gather outside Philadelphia ICE office in aftermath of officer’s suicide

A group of clergy, political leaders, and activists gathered at the Philadelphia ICE office on Friday in the wake of a deportation officer’s suicide, condemning what they said was the agency’s destruction of lives both inside and outside its ranks.

Speakers said they said they grieved with the family of Joseph Moore, 38, who died of a self-inflected gunshot wound while parked near the Center City headquarters, and with the families of immigrants treated wrongly and cruelly by the agency.

Moore died Aug. 28 as he was facing dismissal, along with other new officers brought on amid a huge wave of ICE hiring, one that critics say has led to the employment of unqualified and unvetted recruits.

“He was an ICE agent,” said state Sen. Art Haywood, a Democrat who represents parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery counties, “but he was also a human being.”

Local ICE officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Speakers called ICE a rogue agency, and called on its officers to quit their jobs.

One man, who kept vigil outside ICE headquarters nearly every day in August, said he tried to talk to officers as they went inside, and wished he could have talked to Moore.

Generally, said Jim Nicholson, who described himself as Quaker and non-violent, the officers he addressed were “not interested in being human, compassionate beings,” that they told him everyone they arrest is a criminal.

“I’m a very sorry to hear an agent of ICE committed suicide. That’s a tragedy,” he said. “If the agent had come to us, to me, I would have tried to help.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, charged with carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation plan, has been on a hiring binge that more than doubled the size of the agency. Now ICE has begun quietly firing some of those new officers, The Washington Post reported, citing multiple officials who said officers were put on the streets without being properly vetted.

The Post reported on Monday how Moore, a Marines reservist who graduated from Cheltenham High School in 2006, took his life while parked near ICE headquarters.

The newspaper said ICE notified Moore in late August that he would be fired, and told him to come to the Philadelphia office at 8th and Cherry Streets. His family has disputed the suicide ruling, according to The Post.

Philadelphia police officials said officers called to the scene tried to stop Moore from hurting himself.

Police were summoned to the area of 8th and Race Streets ― the ICE office is one block south ― for a report of an armed man in distress who had barricaded himself inside a vehicle, officials said.

The officers communicated with the man and tried to de-escalate the situation, but he drew a gun and shot himself, police said. No Philadelphia officer fired a weapon, the department said.

Police, without identifying Moore by name, said they have finished their inquiry into the death, and would provide no additional details because it involved a suicide.

In mid-2025, ICE received massive new funding for hiring — about $30 billion, part of $76.5 billion it received through President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” The administration has said it wants to deport a million people a year, which would require a vastly larger ICE and extensive new detention capability.

In January, ICE said an unprecedented nationwide recruitment campaign had shattered expectations, resulting in the hiring of more than 12,000 officers.

That more than doubled the staff from 10,000 to 22,000.

“That’s a 120% increase in our workforce,” Tricia McLaughlin, then an assistant secretary at Homeland Security, said at the time. “And that’s in just about four months.”

Part of the lure was a promised $50,000 signing bonus.

ICE said the majority of new hires were police and military veterans, but an investigation by The Associated Press found evidence that applicants with questionable histories were not fully vetted or were hired in spite of their pasts.

The Post said Homeland Security would not answer questions about specific hiring decisions. It did say that some applicants received “tentative selection letters” and offers to begin working on a temporary status before being subjected to full background checks.

The hiring happened so fast that new officers were put on the streets before being adequately vetted, multiple former officials told the Post. One ICE whistleblower urged officials to halt the expansion, saying in an Aug. 2025 memo that the “overwhelmed” agency had hired officers without checking their fingerprints or their identities, the Post said.

In recent months ICE has begun quietly firing some of the recruits, the Post reported, citing three former DHS officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. They said ICE has cited poor performance or red flags that should have been identified earlier.

The Department of Homeland Security rejected those concerns.

Relatives of an ICE officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine in July told The Associated Press he struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood, and never should have been given a badge and gun. The revelations about the officer, David Brouillette, brought fresh attention to ICE hiring procedures.

The Post said Moore had dreamed of a life in law enforcement since he was a teenager. But two law enforcement agencies fired him, and others rejected him. ICE hired him in the fall as a deportation officer.

Efforts to reach Moore’s family members were unsuccessful.

His obituary said the father of two served 20 years in the Marines as both an active member and a reservist. And that he graduated with a 4.0 grade point average from Rosemont College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Science.

His funeral is scheduled for Sept. 25 at Hope Community Church in Gilbertsville, Pa.

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, help is available. Contact The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.