ICE cuts officer training to a few virtual hours amid surge in local partnerships
A Department of Homeland Security email shows ICE slashed a four-week in-person program to 40 hours of online courses, removing scenario-based instruction for local police assisting immigration enforcement.
An internal Department of Homeland Security email revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement drastically shortened its training for local police departments that have entered 287(g) agreements. The program, once a four-week in-person course, was reduced to just 40 hours of online modules, and all practical scenario training was removed. The correspondence, sent to former ICE Director Todd Lyons and adviser David Venturella, explained the change was meant to meet demands for a quicker rollout.
Under President Donald Trump, the count of participating agencies jumped from 135 across 16 states to more than 2,600, with deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller pressing for 3,000 arrests per day. American Oversight’s executive director Chioma Chukwu warned that the excised content would have taught officers how to confirm a person's citizenship and legal grounds for removal, suggesting the cuts could increase confusion and lead to confrontational arrests. The shift reflects a broader push to accelerate deportations while reducing training safeguards.
Why it matters
Reduced training may cause law-enforcement errors and heightened tension during immigration arrests.
How this story developed
- Aug 13 San Antonio immigrants live in constant fear as ICE arrests surge
- Sep 1 ICE carried out a raid in Memphis that arrested more than 100 people, the largest raid in the city’s history.
- Sep 11 A judge dismissed the deportation case against the Andhra Pradesh woman, yet ICE continued to require her reporting.
- Sep 17 ICE agent Christian Castro turned himself in to Minnesota authorities on a warrant for assault after shooting a Venezuelan man, and faces both state and federal charges.
- Sep 18 Castro entered a not‑guilty plea to the federal false‑statement charges.
- Sep 20 A man was wounded after being shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in North Austin, Texas, and taken to a local hospital.
- Sep 27 A federal judge scheduled a personal appearance for the man on September 30 and issued a temporary order halting his deportation.
- Sep 29 The U.S. Supreme Court granted the Justice Department’s emergency request, letting the Trump administration continue deporting migrants to third countries while the policy’s legality is examined.
- Sep 30 Supreme Court issued an emergency order allowing third‑country deportations to continue.
- Sep 30 An immigration judge ruled that Salah Sarsour, head of Wisconsin’s largest mosque, can be deported on national-security grounds despite his claim that the case targets his Palestinian-rights advocacy.
- Sep 30 The Justice Department lodged complaints with the 8th Circuit alleging that Minnesota federal judges made partisan statements about a Trump-era deportation surge.
- Oct 1 A federal indictment charging Garces Perez with assault was filed.
- Oct 3 The filing requests that the judges be barred from hearing Department of Homeland Security cases.
- Oct 3 A Chicago immigration judge allowed a possible deportation of Salah Sarsour.
In this story
Related stories
113 in this thread