Former ICE instructor testifies that agents were trained to discard constitutional rights

WASHINGTON — A former ICE teacher at a Georgia training center told congressional Democrats on Feb. 23 that new agents are trained to run roughshod over constitutional rights, including the right against a home invasion, and that the federal agency is “broken.”

Ryan Schwank, who resigned from Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Feb. 13, told the forum that ICE is training new agents to violate Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

“ICE is lying to Congress and the American people about the steps it is taking to ensure its 10,000 new officers faithfully uphold the Constitution,” Schwank, who joined ICE as legal counsel in 2021, said in the draft.

The DHS on Monday denied his allegations.

But Schwank said one two-hour program was cut to 10 minutes, “shoe-horned into a lesson [on the Fourth Amendment,” Schwank said, answering a question from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat.

Klobuchar asked Schwank to go over what programs had been skipped or condensed, noting, “It’s been my constituents that have been dragged out of their homes.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which runs ICE, has said all of its officers were following federal law throughout Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis and other widespread escalations such as in Chicago.

“Never in my career had I received such a blatant or unlawful order,” Schwank said.

Schwank also said in a run-up to hire more officers by year’s end, courses about legal searches and seizures, the use of force and the limits of an officer’s authority were all condensed.

“ICE made the program shorter, and they removed so many essential parts that what remains is a dangerous husk,” Schwank said.

DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said that officers received “comprehensive instruction” in both the Fourth and Fifth Amendments and that no training requirements have been removed.

“Despite false claims from the media and sanctuary politicians, no training hours have been cut,” Bis said on Feb. 23.

Two weeks ago, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons told Congress that while the overall training days had declined, new officers were being asked to work longer days.

But the records in the memo suggest ICE trainees are still working “nine-hour days.” Furthermore, they are taking fewer exams. One exam cut by staff includes a practice on “Judgment Pistol Shooting,” according to the memo.

The congressional forum on Feb. 23 was hosted by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. No Republicans attended.

Earlier this month, a similar gathering heard testimony from Renee Good’s brothers and a Minneapolis resident dragged from her car.

Also testifying on Monday was Minneapolis resident Teyana Gibson Brown, who was photographed as ICE burst into her home in mid-January.

Her husband, Garrison, asked for a warrant, which was never produced. After agents fired chemical agents at a growing crowd of neighbors and protesters, they started to ram her house.

“I heard the door pop and realized we were no longer protected,” Gibson Brown said.

Officers entered with guns pointed at the family. In a video, Brown is heard calling to officers to produce a warrant and that “there’s nobody in here but my babies.”

Eventually, officers detained her husband. Four days later, a federal judge ordered him released, citing violations of the Fourth Amendment.

Steve Bunnell, a former general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, said that the treatment of Gibson Brown’s husband was akin to a SWAT team surrounding a violent criminal. Instead, it was someone who had been adhering to civil conditions for 17 years. Garrison Brown fled civil war in Liberia as a child; he was ordered deported for a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed by the courts.