Thousands of new immigration agents are taking fewer exams and getting nearly 250 fewer hours of training than past agents before being deployed to carry out President Donald Trump’s campaign of mass deportations, according to documents from two administration whistleblowers made public Monday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement stopped all legal instruction on use of force, a former ICE lawyer tasked with training the new agents said the same day. Instead, the lawyer said, agents are learning to violate the Constitution.
“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, which should scare everyone,” former ICE attorney Ryan Schwank said at a forum on immigration agent misconduct hosted by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia.