An artificial intelligence error led to newly recruited Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers being deployed to field offices without proper training, according to a report by NBC News.
The AI tool, used to scan resumes, mistakenly grouped applicants without law enforcement backgrounds with those who were previously law enforcement officers. The tool was employed mid-fall to identify candidates for ICE's Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) program, which requires only four weeks of online training for existing officers. In contrast, recruits without law enforcement experience must complete an eight-week in-person course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Georgia.
Officials told NBC News that the AI sorted all applicants with the word 'officer' in their resume into the shorter training group, including those who were a different type of officer or who aspired to become an ICE officer. As a result, most new applicants were incorrectly flagged as law enforcement officers, despite many lacking any police or federal law enforcement experience.
ICE has since begun manually reviewing resumes and bringing affected officers back to FLETC for proper training. The exact number of improperly trained officers remains unclear, as does how many have been involved in immigration arrests. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.
The error comes amid a surge in ICE activity, including over 2,000 immigration arrests in Minnesota since December, which has sparked protests. President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act if the protests continue, calling protesters 'professional agitators and insurrectionists.'
