Mullin says ICE training going back to 'regular standards'

WASHINGTON -- Markwayne Mullin, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, told lawmakers Wednesday that his agency would be increasing the training requirements for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to their previous level starting this summer.

The scope of ICE training became a point of contention as the Trump administration hired thousands of new officers over the past year and apparently cut training requirements as a result of the hiring push. A trove of documents released by Senate Democrats earlier this year showed that training hours had dropped by roughly 40% as of February, to approximately 336 hours. As of July, it had been 584 hours.

On Wednesday, Mullin said that those training requirements were changing.

“We had to rewrite the curriculum. All training starting July 1st will be back up to the regular standards,” he said to the House Homeland Security Committee.

The issue of training for new ICE officers became a flashpoint as the agency became involved in major operations in cities like Minneapolis. The shootings of two American citizens in that city, one of whom was shot by an ICE agent, further inflamed those conversations.

Then, in February, Ryan Schwank, a former ICE attorney who worked at the training academy, publicly criticized the changes.

“For the last five months, I watched ICE dismantle the training program,” Schwank said in February, at a forum held in Washington by congressional Democrats. “Cutting 240 hours of vital classes from a 584-hour program -- classes that teach the Constitution, our legal system, firearms training, the use of force, lawful arrests, proper detention and the limits of officers’ authority.”

Agency officials pushed back and said that hours had in fact not been slashed. “Our officers receive extensive firearm training, are taught de-escalation tactics, and receive Fourth and Fifth Amendment comprehensive instruction,” the agency said at the time.

In related news, the department is canceling most pending contracts initiated under ousted Secretary Kristi Noem, Mullin said, a move that follows congressional scrutiny and an internal watchdog review of her contracting practices.

During Wednesday’s hearing, he faced questions from a top Democrat about what steps he had taken to cancel Noem-era contracts.

The move is part of a broader effort by Mullin to unwind contracting practices under Noem that drew bipartisan criticism.

“We are looking at the contracts that weren’t already signed, and we did go through and cancel most of those,” Mullin said.

President Donald Trump fired Noem in March as public support for his immigration crackdown diminished and as lawmakers - including Republicans - aired concerns about large contracts awarded outside of standard contracting processes. In the days before she was fired, Noem was grilled by lawmakers over a $220 million advertising campaign that was awarded to Republican-connected firms.

Noem said at the time that it was awarded through a competitive process and that no political appointees were involved.

Noem is currently serving as a special envoy to the U.S. State Department’s Shield of the Americas coalition to counter transnational crime. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mullin said the department could not easily terminate already-finalized contracts. He said the department’s internal watchdog, the Office of Inspector General, had multiple active investigations, but that he had not been briefed on the details.

Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar, testifying alongside Mullin, said he and Mullin met with the inspector general’s office “and had discussions of any of the open contracts that are out there.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Copyright 2026 The New York Times Company

This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 12:47 PM.