ICE officer training is ‘deficient’ and ‘broken,’ former agency lawyer tells congressional forum
By Associated Press
Updated Feb 24, 2026
ICE whistleblower Ryan Schwank …
AP —
A former US Immigration and Customs Enforcement lawyer who was responsible for training new deportation officers warned Monday that the agency’s training program for new recruits is “deficient, defective and broken.”
Ryan Schwank’s comments during a forum held by congressional Democrats come at a time of intense scrutiny of the officers tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Critics, including rights groups and Democratic politicians, have accused deportation officers of using excessive force when arresting immigrants, attacking bystanders who record their conduct and failing to follow constitutional protections of people’s rights.
Arming ICE:
Fear as senator discovers staggering true amount Trump spent on arming ICE
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officers stand guard in Minneapolis, Minnesota. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
A report produced by the office of Sen. Adam Schiff reveals that federal immigration enforcement agencies amassed a gigantic weapons stockpile during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term.
In total, the report released by Schiff (D-Calif.) finds that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) committed to spending over $144 million on weapons and ammunition over the last year, a massive increase over these agencies’ spending on weapons in years past.
“In just one year, ICE’s spending commitments on weapons, ammunition, and accessories surged fourfold—an increase of over 360 percent—when compared to ICE’s contracts in 2024,” states the report. “In 2025, CBP’s contracts for weapons, ammunition, and accessories doubled when compared to CBP’s 2024 contract totals.”
Hostorical Database errors and failures:
American Citizens in the Deportation Database: When Surveillance Goes Wrong
How algorithmic bias and database errors put U.S. citizens at risk of detention and deportation
Thousands of U.S. citizens have been wrongly detained or deported by ICE
Database errors and algorithmic bias disproportionately affect communities of color
Surveillance systems cannot reliably distinguish citizens from non-citizens
Constitutional rights are routinely violated through automated enforcement
Mixed-status families face ongoing harassment from flawed targeting systems
⚠️ Constitutional Crisis
Between 2007 and 2015, ICE detained or removed at least 2,840 U.S. citizens. The real number is likely much higher due to inadequate record-keeping and ongoing cases.
The Scale of the Problem
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rely heavily on algorithmic systems and databases to identify deportation targets. These systems, designed to process millions of records quickly, routinely misidentify U.S. citizens as deportable immigrants, leading to wrongful detention, deportation, and constitutional violations.
The problem is systemic, not exceptional. Surveillance databases used for immigration enforcement are plagued by errors, outdated information, and algorithmic bias that disproportionately affects citizens of color, particularly those with Latino surnames or mixed-status family situations.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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