ICE Cut Deputized Officer Training to 40 Hours, Trimming Immigration Law Lessons
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 7
ICE Cut Deputized Officer Training to 40 Hours, Trimming Immigration Law Lessons
2 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 7
Summary
Emails obtained through a FOIA request show ICE shortened training for local officers making immigration arrests from four weeks in person to 40 hours online, while dropping some immigration-law instruction and all field-scenario training.
The records say lessons on immigrant classifications and removal charges were "truncated" after requests to shorten the course first to two weeks and then to one week, leaving 10 topics and one test per day in the final program.
The cuts supported a rapid expansion of 287(g) partnerships: active agreements grew from 135 across 16 states under Biden to more than 2,600 agencies now signed up to help arrest people for civil immigration violations.
ICE later restored the longer program this year after Democrats and former federal law enforcement officials questioned rushed preparation, even as the agency received tens of billions in new funding and ramped up arrests.