U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has highlighted the comprehensive training that its officers receive, responding to criticism regarding their preparedness. The agency stated that under President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE officers undergo extensive preparation before beginning field operations.
“Our officers are the best of the best. Every single day, they put their lives on the line to arrest some of the worst criminals on the planet – including terrorists and drug cartel sicarios – while fighting back against swarms of violent rioters,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Despite these attacks and the massive risks they take on, our officers and agents conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism and exhibit an enormous amount of restraint.”
New ICE recruits must complete training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), which focuses on skills such as de-escalation, conflict management, firearms use, and driving techniques. FLETC serves multiple federal agencies by providing a collaborative training environment with high standards.
Funding for FLETC has increased through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which allocates $750 million to more than double its annual resources. This boost aims to improve readiness for personnel from U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and ICE.
By December 31, 2025, FLETC will have developed capacity to train 11,000 ICE officers and agents. Recent updates to training programs have aimed to eliminate redundancies and incorporate new technologies without lowering required standards.
Homeland Security Investigations candidates receive over 100 days of specialized instruction, while Enforcement and Removal Operations candidates participate in a standard 42-day course. Training covers areas such as arrest techniques, defensive tactics, conflict management, firearms use, use-of-force policies, among others.
Special Response Teams within ICE undertake additional intensive training including tryouts lasting 30 hours just for consideration; completion of an SRT Basic Operator Course; continuous skill development in breaching techniques, perimeter control, advanced firearms usage, hostage rescue; as well as maintaining expert marksman status with issued firearms.
On-the-job mentorship continues after academy graduation. This ongoing process is monitored online to ensure application of classroom learning in real-world scenarios.
ICE attributes increases in assaults—over 1,300%, vehicle attacks—more than 3,200%, and death threats—over 8,000% against its officers to what it describes as misinformation spread by politicians and media about officer training levels.
Despite this criticism and increase in threats reported by ICE officials in recent years, recruitment numbers have risen significantly: over 220,000 applications were received last year with 12,000 new agents hired.
According to ICE data cited by officials: approximately 70% of individuals arrested by ICE had prior criminal records; during President Trump’s first year in office more than 675,000 undocumented immigrants were deported; since then more than 2.2 million people have self-deported from the United States.
Officials attribute these results to what they describe as effective training practices across federal law enforcement agencies.
