Better be in good shape for some jobs

As you may have heard, US President Donald Trump wants to double the number of people working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), hoping to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

- Melvin Durai

But this plan is running into a snag: many of the job seekers interested in working for ICE and rounding up immigrants aren’t in good enough shape. They’ve been deemed “athletically allergic.”

Whether you live in America, India or any other country, being “athletically allergic” will probably disqualify you from most jobs in the military, police force or border patrol. The Indian Army, for example, requires young male recruits to run 1.6 km (or one mile) in under 5 minutes 45 seconds.

The fastest I’ve ever run a mile is 6 minutes and 40 seconds. I was in my twenties then and if I had applied to join the Indian Army, the recruitment officer would have laughed in my face.

Officer: “Please keep training. Don’t give up.”

Me: “So you think I have a chance in the future?”

Officer: “Yes, there is a chance, during a time of war, that we might allow slow people to join.”