Former ICE employee blows the whistle with claim new agents are trained to 'violate the constitution'

A former employee of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now blowing the whistle on practices which he claims “violate the constitution”.

ICE has come under significant scrutiny in recent months due their heavy-handed and aggressive approach to immigration enforcement.

Two US citizens were shot and killed in a matter of weeks by ICE agents on the streets of Minneapolis, sparking widespread backlash and protests. Questions have also been raised around the treatment of those detained.

During testimony given at a Senate hearing about ICE policies, Ryan Schwank, who was hired as an ICE lawyer in 2021 and resigned this month, spoke out about what he was tasked with in his role regarding training deportation officers.

Schwank explained: “I am here because I am duty-bound to report the legally required training program at the ICE academy is deficient, defective and broken. Five months ago I was asked to teach the law to new cadets at the ICE academy at Glynco, Georgia, where ICE is training its new, inexperienced recruits.”

“On my first day, I received secretive orders to teach cadets to violate the Constitution by entering homes without a judicial warrant,” he continued. “For the last five months, I watched ICE dismantle the training programme, cutting 240 hours of vital classes from a 584 hour programme. Classes that teach the Constitution, our legal system, firearms training, the use of force, lawful arrests, proper detention and the limits of officers’ authority.”

Schwank continued: “For example, they ceased all of the legal instructions regarding use of force. This means that cadets are not taught what it means to be objectively reasonable.”

The former ICE employee accused the agency of lying about degrading the programme down to a “dangerous husk”.

“DHS (Department of Homeland Security) told the public the new cadets receive all the training they need to perform their duties, that no critical material or standards have been cut,” he said. “This is a lie. ICE made the program shorter, and they removed so many essential parts that what remains is a dangerous husk.”

Why not read…

• If you criticise ICE online DHS may ask social media platforms for your identity
• Jake Paul attacks Billie Eilish and backs ICE in X post - but there’s one problem
• Robert De Niro slams Donald Trump and MAGA: ‘We gotta get rid of him’

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.