Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Congress on Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement will restore its full training standards for new officers on July 1, following months of criticism that the agency had cut corners while rushing to expand its deportation workforce.
Mullin's announcement came during a congressional hearing where lawmakers pressed him on reports that ICE had shortened its training program for new recruits from 72 days to 42 days. According to ABC News, Mullin said: "July 1st. We bring it back up. We had to rewrite the curriculum. All training starting July 1st will be back up to the regular standards." He did not address criticism of the training schedule or explain why the change was being made now.
The shortened training was part of a broader effort to rapidly hire and deploy an additional 10,000 deportation officers after Congress infused the agency with billions of dollars last summer. At the time the expansion began, ICE had approximately 6,500 deportation officers on staff.
The push to scale up quickly drew sharp criticism from inside and outside the agency. In February, Ryan Schwank, a former ICE lawyer who had been responsible for training new deportation officers, testified at a forum hosted by Democrats and accused the department of dismantling the training program. "DHS 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."
ICE and Homeland Security officials rejected those accusations. They said new recruits were receiving firearms training, were taught de-escalation tactics, and were instructed on the Constitution. Officials also said no training hours were cut.
During a tour of ICE's training facility in Georgia with reporters last August, acting ICE director Todd Lyons said the agency had made changes designed to streamline the process but denied it was watered down. Officials said they boosted training to six days a week at the federal training center, added training before and after recruits arrived at the facility, and eliminated a Spanish language requirement.
The July 1 date Mullin announced gives the agency less than a month to begin operating under the restored curriculum.
