WASHINGTON – New whistleblower documents detail major cuts by the Trump administration to training requirements for new immigrant workers.
Among the reductions are the elimination of practical tests, use of force and law enforcement training, and a complete reduction in training time, which contradicts the official testimony we sent to Congress earlier this month.
These documents, given by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is a whistleblower from the Department of Homeland Security, it was revealed publicly before Monday afternoon’s meeting with congressional Democrats – the third time in recent weeks that members are investigating what they consider abusive and illegal tactics used by federal agents.
Lauren Bis, deputy secretary for public affairs at DHS, said no training hours have been set.
“Our officers receive extensive firearms training, are taught fire suppression tactics, and receive extensive 4th and 5th Amendment instruction,” he said. “Training doesn’t stop after graduation, recruits are put through a rigorous on-the-job training program that is monitored and monitored closely.”
Blumenthal’s office also revealed the identity of another whistleblower: Ryan Schwank, an attorney who recently served as an instructor for new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at the ICE Academy inside the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia. Schwank, who resigned on February 13, is scheduled to testify at the hearing.
Schwank is one of two whistleblowers who leaked information from Blumenthal’s office last month about an ICE policy that allows agents to enter people’s homes without a warrant.
In excerpts from Schwank’s redacted testimony shared with The Times, he calls the training program “empty, flawed and broken.”
“Inadequate training can and will get people killed,” he wrote. “It could lead to illegal arrests, violations of constitutional rights, and a loss of public trust in law enforcement. ICE is lying to Congress and the American people about the steps it is taking to ensure that its 10,000 new officers faithfully uphold the Constitution and are able to do their jobs.”
Blumenthal’s office did not confirm whether Schwank or another, still unidentified, source provided the documents released Monday in a 90-page memorandum from several staff members of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Documents show that ICE has removed more than a dozen practical exams that ICE officers were previously required to complete. By July 2021, a cadet needed to pass 25 performance tests to graduate. Now, nine are needed.
Tests that have been removed include “Judicial Shotgun Shooting,” “Criminal Encounter,” and “Get Out.”
“All of these are now being evaluated, if at all, mostly through open-book, multi-method exams and without any standardized tests,” the memo said.
A comparison between the table of contents of the program and the sections of general knowledge from July 2025 – before the increase in recruitment – and this month shows that ICE seems to have cut the courses, such as using forced simulation training, the structure of the US government, criminal proceedings against removal, and the use of force.
Earlier this month, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons testified to Congress that while the agency reduced the number of training days to 42 from 75, “We went from five days a week to six days a week. Five days a week was five eight-hour days.”
But the documents seem to contradict Lyons’ testimony.
“The schedules shown in these documents show that current ICE recruits receive approximately 250 hours of training than previous cohorts of recruits,” the memo said.
The training cuts come as ICE plans to bring in more than 4,000 new Enforcement and Removal Operations officers this fiscal year, which ends in September. One of the documents notes that ICE has graduated 803 new officers by 2026 as of Jan. 29 and revealed that another 3,204 students graduated by the end of the fiscal year.
In a written statement, Blumenthal encouraged other whistleblowers to come forward.
“We know about the Trump Administration’s termination of immigration enforcement training and its secret policy of stripping you of your Constitutional rights because of the brave Americans who are speaking out today,” he wrote. “They are coming to Congress because we have an obligation to not only testify about these crimes, but to do something to make sure they don’t happen again.”
