“I have a duty to tell you that ICE’s basic training program on immigration law enforcement is insufficient, failing, and dysfunctional today,” said Ryan Schwank, former instructor, during a forum organized by Democratic lawmakers in Congress. “Without reform, ICE will graduate thousands of new agents who are unaware of their constitutional duties, the limits of their authority, and have not received the necessary training to recognize an illegal order,” lamented Ryan Schwank, a lawyer by training, who resigned from ICE on February 13. “This should concern everyone,” he emphasized.
“An Obviously Illegal Order”
During his testimony, he specifically stated that he had “received secret orders to teach new recruits to violate the Constitution by entering homes without a judicial warrant.” “Never in my career had I received such an obviously illegal order,” he said. Ryan Schwank indicated that ICE had removed 240 hours of courses from a 584-hour program, particularly reducing courses that teach the American Constitution, the legal system, firearm handling, use of force, and the limits of agents’ authority.
