The former ICE lawyer’s testimony to Congress comes as ICE is in the midst of a historic hiring surge aimed at fulfilling the president’s promise of mass deportations.
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A former ICE lawyer testified to members of Congress on February 23 that ICE supervisors are “coaching new cadets in ways that violate the Constitution” as President Donald Trump promises mass deportations.
“ICE Academy is flawed, flawed and broken,” former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorney Ryan Schwank told members of Congress on Monday. Schwank, who joined ICE in 2021, resigned on February 13 after being assigned to teach cadets at ICE’s academy in Georgia. “On my first day on the job, I received top secret orders to teach new cadets the constitutional violation of entering a home without a judicial warrant.”
Schwank said he resigned to address Congress on Monday. He spoke at a forum chaired by Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Rep. Robert Garcia of California. The meeting was the latest in a series of forums Democratic lawmakers have held to highlight DHS misconduct.
Schwank emphasized the agency’s position that it does not require a warrant to enter homes, has significantly reduced training time for recruits and eliminated the use of force, even as the Department of Homeland Security faces backlash for the shooting deaths of two Americans in Minnesota.
In a statement Monday, the Department of Homeland Security defended the way ICE reorganized its military academy, saying new recruits are “receiving the same hours of training that our officers have traditionally received,” only in a more compressed period. The Department of Homeland Security denied Mr. Schwank’s testimony that the agency does not teach cadets about the Constitution or the appropriate use of force.
“We have ensured that our law enforcement officers receive the best training possible to apprehend murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members and remove them from our communities,” agency spokeswoman Lauren Biss said in a statement.
The testimony of the former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security comes as ICE is in the midst of a historic recruiting drive. According to DHS, the department hired 12,000 police officers and staff in the first year of President Trump’s second term.
The new hires are being funded through a budget increase the agency received under the President’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The $73 billion the agency received under the law President Trump signed in July is about six times the amount the agency originally planned to pay in fiscal year 2026.
The new funding is scheduled to last until the end of President Trump’s term, meaning the agency can continue its deportation campaign while other DHS agencies are at risk of closure while lawmakers are unable to agree on funding the department.
secret memo
A former ICE attorney said he is most troubled by an agency memo signed by Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons that asserts that federal agents can forcibly enter homes without a judicial warrant. Constitutional scholars, immigration experts and federal judges say the move is a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment. The memo dates back to May 2025 and was made public in a late January whistleblower investigation investigated by USA TODAY.
“Never in my career have I received such a blatantly illegal order, nor have I received such an order in such a troubling manner,” Schwank said. “Incredibly, I was secretly shown this memo by my boss, who made me understand that if I didn’t comply, I could lose my job.”
Federal authorities have downplayed constitutional concerns.
“We don’t break into anyone’s home,” Marcos Charles, ICE’s executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations, said at a recent press conference. “We enter the country in intense pursuit, either with criminal arrest warrants or administrative arrest warrants. The thing to remember is that these administrative arrest warrants are considered justified by the courts for immigration purposes.”
Administrative warrants are not the same as judicial warrants. Administrative warrants are not reviewed by a judge and are signed by an ICE officer (sometimes the agent making the arrest).
“We saw ICE dismantle training programs.”
Schwank said that over the past five months, he has watched ICE dismantle training programs for new employees and police officers.
A former ICE attorney says ICE has cut training time by about a third. He said the 240 hours of abbreviated training included classes on the constitution, use of force and limits on officer authority.
The lawyer’s criticism of the training program comes as a federal judge has accused ICE and Border Patrol agents of using chemicals on protesters, blocking detainees’ access to lawyers and illegally arresting them.
“In the name of endlessly producing more police officers, DHS leadership has eliminated the written and practical exams that cadets need to know whether they can safely and legally perform their duties,” Schwank said. “ICE shortened the program;
With so many vital parts removed, all that remains is a dangerous shell. ”
A former agency lawyer warned, “Without reform, thousands of new employees will graduate from ICE without knowing their constitutional duties, knowing the limits of their authority, and not being trained to recognize illegal orders.”
How does ICE say training has changed?
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Biss said in a statement that although the training has changed, cadets still receive use-of-force and constitutional training.
He said cadets still receive the same number of hours of training. “ICE recruits receive 56 days of training and an average of 28 days of on-the-job training. No training requirements have been removed. Training has increased from five days a week, eight hours a day to six days a week, 12 hours a day, the same amount of training that officers have always received.”
Biss added: “Training does not end after graduating from the academy. Recruits will participate in a rigorous on-the-job training program where they will be tracked and monitored.”
Contributed by Chris Cann
