Why a former official says ICE training is ‘deficient, defective and broken’
A former Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told a congressional forum Monday that the agency’s training is “deficient, defective and broken” and that its leaders have been “lying to Congress and the American people.”
Ryan Schwank, a former lawyer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement who taught recruits at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, resigned earlier this month over alleged cuts to training for newly hired officers as the Trump administration tried to rapidly ramp up immigration enforcement.
“For the last five months, I watched ICE dismantle the training program,” Schwank said. “Cutting 240 hours of vital classes from a 584-hour program — classes that teach the Constitution, our legal system, firearms training, the use of force, lawful arrests, proper detention and the limits of officers’ authority.”
“New cadets are graduating from the academy despite widespread concerns among training staff that even in the final days of training, the cadets cannot demonstrate a solid grasp of the tactics or the law required to perform their jobs,” Schwank added.
Training for ICE officers and other federal immigration agents has come under scrutiny since two protesters were shot to death during enforcement surges in Minnesota last month. However, authorities said experienced officers were involved in both shootings.
An ICE spokesperson denied Schwank’s claim that training hours had been reduced.
“Our officers receive extensive firearm training, are taught de-escalation tactics and receive Fourth and Fifth Amendment comprehensive instruction,” the spokesperson said, according to The New York Times.
What are the allegations?
Schwank is a career ICE employee who resigned in protest less than two weeks ago, CBS News reports. He first joined ICE in 2021 and represented the agency during immigration proceedings and served as an on-site legal advisor at the ICE family detention center in Dilley, Texas.
Schwank previously raised concerns anonymously in January, alleging Trump officials encouraged agents to use unconstitutional tactics. CBS News reports that Schwank’s resignation is the first time an ICE official has broken ranks and publicly denounced the agency during President Donald Trump’s second term.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., organized Monday’s forum amid growing concerns about the department’s lack of accountability.
The criticisms of ICE intensified after an agent shot and killed Renee Good during an incident in January. Following the shooting, critics said the shooting was unjustified and have asked for a full investigation. Critics’ concerns were reinforced after Customs and Border Protection agents shot and killed Alex Pretti.
News reports late last week revealed that an ICE officer killed another U.S. citizen, Ruben Ray Martinez, in South Padre Island, Texas, last March.
Democrats have blocked funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both ICE and CBP, demanding new guardrails for agents. Some demands include banning federal agents from wearing masks, requiring a judicial warrant to enter a house and forcing officers to wear body cams.
How rigorous is ICE training?
Schwank and another whistleblower released internal department documents showing training times for ICE agents have dropped, according to CBS News. A syllabus for new agents from last July showed that training lasted 72 days. By February, documents showed that it had dropped to 42 days.
Other documents showed that some trainees are receiving about half the training hours as previous recruits. A list of required tests from October showed that instructors grade only a fraction of the tests recruits must complete before becoming an agent.
Some of the omitted evaluations relate to use of force protocols like “Encounters to Detention” and “Judgment Pistol Shooting,” CBS News reports.
DHS released a statement saying the department has “streamlined” the training process to “cut redundancy … without sacrificing basic subject matter content.”
“Under these new improvements, candidates still learn the same elements and meet the same high standards ICE has always required,” the department stated. “No subject matter has been cut.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
