Whistleblower claims new ICE agents get 240 fewer training hours, now skip classes on Constitution, use of force, and more

Whistleblower testified before Congress Sunday

Former ICE attorney Ryan Schwank told congressional Democrats on Feb. 23 that the agency’s training program for new officers is “deficient, defective and broken.”

Schwank resigned from ICE on Feb. 13 after months of teaching law to new cadets at the ICE Academy in Glynco, Ga. He said the agency dismantled the program over the past five months, cutting classes on the Constitution, firearms, use of force, and the limits of officers’ authority.

Internal documents show sharp training cuts

Documents released by Sen. Richard Blumenthal told a striking story. ICE’s training program shrank from 72 days to 42 days between July 2025 and February 2026.

A July 2025 syllabus showed recruits getting about 584 hours of training. By February 2026, that number dropped to roughly 336 hours, a cut of about 40%.

Two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) whistleblowers gave the documents to Blumenthal’s office. Schwank described the reduction as cutting 240 hours of vital classes.

Recruits now pass far fewer exams

The cuts went beyond classroom hours. In July 2021, a cadet needed to pass 25 practical exams to graduate.

Now only nine are needed. Gone are exams like “Judgment Pistol Shooting,” “Criminal Encounters,” and “Determine Removability.”

Senate staff found that many of those cut exams, if tested at all, now use open-book, multiple-choice written tests.

Entire courses appear to have vanished too, including use of force simulation training and U.S. government structure.

Schwank described a secret warrantless entry memo

Schwank said something else caught his attention on his very first day at the academy.

His supervisor showed him a memo dated May 12, 2025, claiming ICE officers could enter homes without a judicial warrant. The supervisor warned him that two previous instructors lost their jobs for questioning it.

Schwank said the acting ICE director had authorized conduct that DHS’s own 2025 training materials called a chief violation of the Fourth Amendment.

ICE director’s testimony appears contradicted

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told Congress earlier in February that training days dropped from 75 to 42. But Lyons said the agency made up the difference by shifting from five 8-hour days to six 12-hour days each week.

A Senate staff analysis of actual schedules found something different. Recruits appear to still train about nine hours a day, not 12.

Blumenthal said Lyons had previously promised Congress that no content had been cut from training.

DHS says criticism comes from politics

DHS pushed back hard. Spokesperson Lauren Bis said no training hours have been cut and called the criticism “false claims from the media and sanctuary politicians.”

The department said officers still get extensive firearms training, de-escalation instruction, and classes on the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.

DHS said it streamlined the program to cut redundancy and use new technology, not to remove content. The agency also pointed to on-the-job training that recruits complete after graduation.

A hiring surge doubled the workforce

The rapid expansion traces back to one law. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed on July 4, 2025, sent roughly $170 billion toward immigration and border enforcement.

About $30 billion over four years went to ICE operations, including funding to hire 10,000 new officers. ICE said it received more than 220,000 applications and brought on over 12,000 officers in under a year.

The agency’s workforce more than doubled, from about 10,000 to roughly 22,000.

Schwank says most recruits lack police experience

Schwank said the cadets he trained genuinely wanted to learn and do their jobs the right way. But most did not come in with law enforcement backgrounds.

Training staff had widespread concerns that even on the final days of the program, cadets could not show a solid grasp of tactics or the law.

Schwank said cadets are graduating despite using excessive force in practice exercises. DHS disputes this, saying recruits get 56 days of training plus an average of 28 days on the job.

Forum followed deadly shootings by agents

The hearing came at a tense moment. Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by an ICE agent on Jan. 7 during immigration enforcement in Minneapolis.

Alex Pretti, also 37 and a U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by a Customs and Border Protection officer on Jan. 24. The forum was the third held by Democratic lawmakers examining ICE training and officer conduct.

No Republican lawmakers attended.

Democrats push reforms and block DHS funding

Blumenthal and Rep. Robert Garcia of California organized the forum as part of a broader push for ICE accountability.

Democrats have refused to fund DHS until the Trump administration agrees to reforms, including requiring officers to identify themselves.

Documents showed ICE graduated 803 new officers as of Jan. 29, with more than 3,200 additional graduates expected by the end of the fiscal year. Blumenthal encouraged more whistleblowers to come forward.

Schwank warns officers don’t know the rules

Schwank warned that without changes, ICE will graduate thousands of officers who do not understand their constitutional duties.

He said cadets are not learning what “objectively reasonable” means, the legal standard for deciding whether to use deadly force. A class on the rights of protesters shrank from two hours to about 10 minutes.

DHS maintains that all officers meet the same high standards the agency has always required. The two sides remain far apart.

Both sides tell very different stories

The whistleblower testimony and documents have landed in the middle of a heated national debate over immigration enforcement. Democrats organized the forums, and no Republicans took part.

DHS officials say the criticisms are politically motivated and that training standards remain intact.

Whether ICE’s training program meets legal requirements may ultimately be tested in court or through further congressional oversight.

Documents show more than 3,200 new officers are expected to graduate by the end of this fiscal year.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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