Overview
- Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday that ICE training will return to prior standards starting July 1.
- Senate Democratic documents and reporting showed training hours fell from roughly 584 hours to about 336 hours earlier this year, a cut critics say removed core classes on law, use of force and detentions.
- A former ICE training official, Ryan Schwank, testified that the revised program was “deficient, defective and broken,” saying dozens of important hours were removed from the curriculum.
- ICE and DHS have defended the changes, saying recruits still received firearms, de‑escalation and Fourth and Fifth Amendment instruction and that adjustments were meant to speed throughput while keeping key skills.
- The training dispute grew out of a congressionally funded push to expand the deportation force from about 6,500 toward 10,000 officers and has intensified oversight, potential policy changes and public concern about field readiness and conduct.