A former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lawyer has claimed that new agents are receiving a ‘deficient, defective and broken’ training programme as the Trump administration rapidly expands the agency. Ryan Schwank, who served as an ICE lawyer and training instructor from 2021 until his resignation this month, made the allegations during a hearing organised by congressional Democrats.
Schwank stated that without reform, ICE will graduate thousands of officers who do not know their constitutional duties or the limits of their authority. He claimed the agency cut around 240 hours of instruction from its previous 548-hour programme, removing classes on firearms training, constitutional law, and protestors’ rights. The number of practical examinations required to graduate fell from 25 to nine, according to documents released by Democrats.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has strongly disputed Schwank’s claims, stating that new recruits receive 56 days of training plus an average of 28 days of on-the-job instruction. The agency said no training requirements have been removed and that daily hours have increased from eight to twelve, with training now running six days a week. DHS also insisted that civil rights and constitutional training remain integral components.
The Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill allocated $165 billion to DHS, partly to hire 10,000 new ICE agents. The agency has offered cash bonuses to attract recruits. Democrats have halted funding for ICE following a series of military-style deportation raids, including an incident in Minneapolis where agents fatally shot two US citizens.
