Deportation Officer Transition Program (dotp) May 2026

On the left, immigrant rights groups are deeply skeptical. “This feels like ICE trying to launder its reputation,” says Elena Vasquez of the National Immigration Project. “An officer who spent years tearing families apart doesn’t become a healer with a few months of training. That’s not transition. That’s optics.”

For two decades, Jameson Cole wore the badge of a Deportation Officer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He spent his days tracking fugitives, escorting flights of removals, and enforcing court-ordered departures. It was a career defined by high stress, moral complexity, and the heavy finality of a gavel. deportation officer transition program (dotp)

“We know where the bodies are buried,” says Cole, now a DOTP mentor. “I can look at a file and see exactly where an officer might cut corners, where a translation error happened, or where someone was eligible for withholding of removal but never told. That’s not a weapon anymore. It’s a key.” Unsurprisingly, DOTP has its detractors—from both sides of the aisle. On the left, immigrant rights groups are deeply skeptical

“My daughter used to say, ‘Daddy sends people away,’” Cole recalls. “Now she says, ‘Daddy helps kids come home.’ Same knowledge. Different compass.” That’s not transition