Ryan Schwank Warns Congress That ICE Is Graduating Undertrained Officers After Curriculum Cuts
Former ICE instructor ryan schwank told a congressional forum that recent curriculum changes have left new officers unprepared for lawful immigration enforcement, and he urged immediate reform. His testimony arrives amid disputed internal documents showing sharp reductions in training time and a flurry of political and criminal scrutiny over enforcement practices.
Development details: Ryan Schwank testimony and documents
At a hearing organized by Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Robert Garcia, Ryan Schwank described the ICE Basic Immigration Enforcement Training Program as "deficient, defective, and broken" and said new recruits are graduating without a solid grasp of tactics or the legal limits of their authority. Schwank, an attorney and former career ICE employee who resigned on Feb. 13, told lawmakers that the agency has been undercounting or misrepresenting how much training recruits receive.
Internal agency materials shared with Congress show the training period contracted from 72 days in July 2025 to 42 days in a February 2026 syllabus. A model daily schedule from January 2026 indicates some recruits are receiving roughly half the training hours of previous cohorts, an analysis by Democratic staff with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation found. An October 2025 list of required exams shows cadets are now graded on a fraction of the topics that were necessary four years earlier; several practical evaluations tied to use-of-force protocols—labeled in the documents as "Encounters to Detention" and "Judgment Pistol Shooting"—appear to have been removed.
Additional documents suggest new officers receive about 250 fewer training hours than prior recruits and that more than a dozen practical exams, including assessments in "judgment pistol shooting" and "criminal encounters, " have been eliminated from the enforcement removal operations curriculum. The Department of Homeland Security has denied that training requirements were eliminated and said the agency streamlined instruction to remove redundancy and incorporate technology improvements.
Context and escalation
Schwank's testimony came as ICE faces heightened criticism after several deadly encounters involving federal immigration officers. Lawmakers noted the January killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis and said that public concern about enforcement tactics has intensified congressional interest in training standards. Two ICE officers are also under criminal investigation for whether they lied under oath about a separate shooting in Minneapolis, while agents from a different border agency were involved in a separate fatal shooting in the same city.
At the same time, a legislative push to expand ICE's ranks has accelerated hiring. A recent funding measure authorized adding 10, 000 agents on top of an existing force of about 20, 000; the Homeland Security secretary eliminated prior age restrictions for recruits and made signing bonuses of up to $50, 000 available. Schwank argued that rapidly scaling the workforce without restoring comprehensive training will produce thousands of officers who do not know the limits of their authority.
Immediate impact
Schwank warned that deficient training can lead directly to unlawful arrests, violations of constitutional rights and even loss of life. The documents and testimony indicate immediate operational consequences: cadets finishing the academy will have fewer evaluated competencies in use-of-force tactics and legal distinctions between criminal and immigration proceedings, and some cohorts are completing a curriculum that is measurably shorter than what prior recruits received.
Whistleblower Aid, the legal group representing Schwank, said he resigned in protest. Congressional staff have taken custody of the materials and are analyzing the changes; acting ICE leadership has previously testified to Congress about training, and the agency has resisted characterizing the revisions as eliminations rather than streamlining.
Forward outlook
Congressional review of the submitted syllabi and schedules is ongoing, with Democratic committee staff already citing the materials in their analysis. Lawmakers pressing for reform have linked their approval of Department of Homeland Security funding to changes in ICE policy, including specific reforms sought for officer conduct and accountability. The debate over training content—its duration, evaluated competencies and use-of-force instruction—will remain central to oversight work in the coming weeks as committees continue to examine the documents and hear testimony from former and current officials.
What makes this notable is the convergence of personnel expansion, condensed training timelines and active criminal and political inquiries into enforcement actions—factors that lawmakers and the whistleblower say combine to heighten the risk of operational failures unless curriculum and oversight are restored.
