Former US Immigration Enforcement instructor testifies at Senate hearing

ANKARA

A former instructor for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) delivered a striking testimony on Monday before a congressional forum.

The bicameral forum is part of a series examining constitutional violations and ICE accountability.

It addressed concerns over training reductions during efforts to rapidly expand the agency’s workforce for large-scale deportation operations. Plans aim to train thousands of new officers by the end of the year.

Ryan Schwank joined ICE in August 2021 as an assistant chief counsel and resigned on Feb. 13, 2026, to speak out publicly.

Schwank taught legal topics at the ICE Academy in Glynco, Georgia, at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

At the hearing, he accused the agency of significantly reducing training for new recruits and directing officers in ways that violate constitutional protections.

Schwank said he received orders on his first day to instruct cadets that they could enter homes without a judicial warrant.

This is a direct violation of the Fourth Amendment and contradicts previous Department of Homeland Security (DHS) legal training materials, he claimed.

He said ICE significantly shortened the training program, cutting about 240 hours from the original 584 hour curriculum. Key classes on the Constitution, the legal system, and firearms safety and handling were reduced or eliminated. The training also scaled back instruction on use of force — including the objectively reasonable standard for deadly force — lawful arrests, proper detention, and the limits of officers’ authority.

Schwank warned that these changes result in new cadets graduating without a firm understanding of essential tactics or laws, despite concerns from academy staff.

Recruits are quickly deployed after short periods at local offices for equipment, with limited supervision.

Schwank called DHS’s claims that the shortened training is still adequate, or that on-the-job experience can make up for it, false. He argued that cutting nearly half of the program prevents recruits from meeting the required legal standards.

Homeland Security has defended the adjustments as compressed but equivalent training. They insist no critical standards were eliminated.

Schwank emphasized that he was not alone and said many academy faculty shared these worries.

The bicameral congressional forum comes amid intense scrutiny of ICE practices, including a controversial memo on administrative-warrant home entries, recent use of force incidents, and multiple high-profile shootings that have fueled protests across cities.

Schwank’s testimony, backed by internal documents from whistleblowers, is expected to heighten demands for greater oversight and reforms, especially as ICE’s budget faces intense debate with calls for both increases to support expanded operations and cuts over accountability concerns.