Politics

ICE whistleblower warns new recruits are receiving “defective” training

By Michael Kaplan, Reporter and Producer

Michael Kaplan is an award-winning reporter and producer for the CBS News investigative unit. He specializes in securing scoops and crafting long-form television investigations. His work has appeared on “60 Minutes,” CNN and in The New York Times. Read Full Bio

Updated on: February 23, 2026 / 4:18 PM EST / CBS News

A former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement instructor responsible for educating new ICE officers on proper use of force told Congress Monday the agency’s efforts to rapidly scale up its ranks will place recruits on the streets without the training they need to lawfully carry out immigration enforcement. 

“New cadets are graduating from the Academy, despite widespread concerns among training staff that even in the final days of training, the cadets cannot demonstrate a solid grasp of the tactics or the law required to perform their jobs,” Ryan Schwank said during a hearing organized by congressional Democrats.

“Without reform, ICE will graduate thousands of new officers who do not know their constitutional duty, do not know the limits of their authority and who do not have the training to recognize an unlawful order. That should scare everyone,” Schwank added.

Schwank is an attorney and former career ICE employee who resigned from the immigration agency less than two weeks ago. A spokesperson for Whistleblower Aid, the legal group representing Schwank, said he quit the agency in protest. It stands as one of the first instances of an ICE official who has served under the second Trump administration publicly rebuking the agency and the adequacy of its training. Schwank resigned from ICE on Feb. 13, according to congressional aides.

The hearing, organized by Democratic Sen. Richard BlumentDhal of Connecticut and Rep. Robert Garcia of California, comes as calls for accountability grow in the wake of several incidents where federal immigration officers have deployed deadly force, including the January killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis. Schwank’s testimony will likely fuel Democrats’ refusal to fund the Department of Homeland Security until the Trump administration agrees to a number of reforms for ICE, including a prohibition on agents wearing masks.

“I am duty bound to tell you the ICE Basic Immigration Enforcement Training Program is now deficient, defective, and broken,” Schwank said Monday. He alleged ICE officials are lying about the amount of training new recruits receive. 

In addition to Schwank’s testimony, CBS News obtained internal agency documents that were part of a disclosure he and a second U.S. government whistleblower shared with Congress. They include a July 2025 syllabus for the ICE officer training program, and an updated one dated February 2026. Within the 7-month span, training dropped from 72 to 42 days, and multiple courses dealing with use of force appear to be removed.  

The documents also include a model daily schedule from January 2026 that shows at least some of ICE’s new recruits are receiving about half the training hours as previous cohorts, according to an analysis by Democratic staff with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation. A list of required exams from October 2025 shows cadets are only graded on a fraction of the topics that were necessary to become an officer four years earlier. Eliminated evaluations appear to touch on use-of-force protocols, such as “Encounters to Detention” and “Judgment Pistol Shooting.” 

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, denied that any training requirements for new recruits had been eliminated.  

“DHS has streamlined training to cut redundancy and incorporate technology advancements, without sacrificing basic subject matter content,” the statement read. “Under these new improvements, candidates still learn the same elements and meet the same high standards ICE has always required. No subject matter has been cut.”  

Continue/Read Original Source: ICE whistleblower warns new recruits are receiving “defective” training – CBS News