ICE Whistleblower, Speaking Publicly for First Time, Says ICE Violates the Law with Dangerously Shortened Training

[Nevilledog]

https://whistlebloweraid.org/ice-whistleblower-speaking-publicly-for-first-time-says-ice-violates-the-law-with-dangerously-shortened-training/

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 23, 2026—A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lawyer turned whistleblower, speaking publicly for the first time, said the agency is graduating thousands of new recruits after dangerously stripped-down training and teaching them they can legally enter private homes without consent or a warrant signed by a judge–in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Surging the number of ICE agents from about 10,000 to more than 22,000 to meet the Trump Administration’s aggressive deportation quotas has prompted drastic and dangerous cuts in training of new agents, WhistleblowerAid.org client and former ICE lawyer and legal instructor Ryan Schwank told a public forum chaired by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) and Representative Robert Garcia (D-California).

“ICE is lying to Congress and the American people about the steps it is taking to ensure its 12,000 new officers faithfully uphold the Constitution and perform their jobs,” Schwank said in a prepared statement. “Deficient training can and will get people killed,” he added. “It can and will lead to unlawful arrests, violations of constitutional rights, and a fundamental loss of public trust in law enforcement.”

‘ICE is teaching cadets to violate the Constitution’

On his first day at the Georgia-based Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Schwank, an experienced immigration lawyer, said he “received secretive orders to teach new cadets to violate the Constitution by entering homes without a judicial warrant. I was instructed to read and return a memo in my supervisor’s presence which claimed ICE officers could enter homes without a judicial warrant.” That memo, dated May 12, 2025, lacked any of the typical markings or handling associated with internal policy guidance. “Before I was shown this memo, my supervisor warned me that two previous ICE instructors had been dismissed because they questioned senior ICE management over the legality of the memo,” he said.

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Former ICE instructor will testify as whistleblower that agents taught to violate Fourth Amendment

https://www.startribune.com/ice-fourth-amendment-whistleblower-congressional-democrats-forum-testimony-blumenthal/601587162

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