Former ICE instructor says agency has slashed training for new officers
Ryan Schwank tells a congressional forum the agency’s training for new deportation officers has deteriorated as ICE ramps up hiring.
A former instructor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday accused the agency of dramatically slashing training standards for new officers and lying to Congress about it as the Trump administration seeks to rapidly expand its mass deportation operation.
Ryan Schwank, who resigned from his job at an ICE academy in Georgia last week, told congressional Democrats at a hearing that the agency eliminated 240 hours of “vital classes” from a mandatory 580-hour training program, including instruction about the legal boundaries for the use of force, how to safely handle firearms, and the proper way to detain and arrest immigrants.
“Law enforcement is a deadly serious biz. It is not a place for shortcuts,” Schwank said. “Deficient training can and will get people killed. … ICE is lying to Congress and the American people about the steps it is taking to ensure that 12,000 officers can faithfully uphold the Constitution and perform their jobs.”
Ahead of the hearing, Schwank provided a joint panel of House and Senate Democrats copies of internal ICE documents that he said shows the extent of the cuts.
Schwank’s testimony comes two weeks after acting ICE director Todd M. Lyons testified in front of separate House and Senate committees amid growing public outrage over the aggressive tactics of ICE and other federal immigration officers. Two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis last month.
During his testimony in the House on Feb. 10, Lyons responded to questions about the agency’s training program by saying it has not reduced the “meat of the training” but has sought to reduce the time it takes to get officers into the field. He said training used to take place five days a week for eight hours a day but has been changed to six days a week for 12 hours per day.
In a statement Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said ICE recruits receive 56 days of training before beginning their assignments, along with an average of 28 additional days of “on-the-job-training.” DHS said recruits are receiving the same total hours of training as they always have.
“No training hours have been cut. Our officers receive extensive firearm training, are taught de-escalation tactics, and receive Fourth and Fifth Amendment comprehensive instruction,” said Lauren Bis, a spokesperson for the department.
Schwank said that among the classes eliminated were 16 hours of firearms training. He also said that a two-hour class on the rights of protesters was shortened into 10 minutes of discussion during a lecture on “the concept of seizure.”
Schwank was separately asked to review an internal memo, signed by Lyons, that said ICE officers are authorized to use administrative warrants, approved by senior ICE officials, to enter private residences. That marked a shift from the federal government’s long-standing position that officers must obtain judicial warrants signed by federal judges.
Schwank said he was instructed to train the recruits on the policy but was told he could not talk about the information publicly or even take notes after reading the memo. The Washington Post and other news outlets reported on the memo last month.
“ICE is teaching cadets to violate the Constitution and attempting to cloak it in secrecy by demanding I lie about it,” he said.