ICE whistleblower warns new recruits are receiving "defective" training
CBSN
A former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement instructor responsible for educating new ICE officers on proper use of force said 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. In:
A former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement instructor responsible for educating new ICE officers on proper use of force said 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.
"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 do not have the training to recognize an unlawful order," wrote the instructor, Ryan Schwank, in an excerpt of prepared remarks he planned to deliver before Congress.
Schwank, an attorney and career ICE employee who resigned from the immigration agency less than two weeks ago, is set to testify on Monday at a hearing organized by congressional Democrats. A representative for 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 Blumenthal 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 wrote in his prepared remarks. He alleged ICE officials are lying about the amount of training new recruits receive.

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