The AI (artificial intelligence) tool ICE has been using to assess applications has made a deadly mistake. The original purpose of this AI tool was to identify any applicants who already received “law enforcement officer training” so they could skip the in-person training. These applications were automatically fast-tracked to the 4-week online courses ICE uses to train its officers. However, the keyword the AI was programmed to identify was “officer”. It didn’t matter if the applicant was a police officer, a compliance officer, or simply used the phrase “want to be an ICE officer”. Any application with the word “officer” was immediately recommended for only the online training.
The in-person “law enforcement officer” training for ICE agents lasts 8 weeks. It is meant to cover the fundamentals necessary for being an ICE agent. This means things like law enforcement procedures, safe firearm handling, and emergency response protocols. It also included specialized training in immigration laws and technology. Even basic physical fitness testing is part of this training.
The training period of ICE officers used to be 5 months, but it has continued to be shortened over the last few months. The current training takes place 6 days a week for a period of 8 weeks. There are speculations that the length of the training period itself is related to the information about Donald Trump. Earlier this week, US Senator Mark Warner told a CNN host during an interview that “the training for the ICE agents now is 47 days. Why 47 days? Because Donald Trump is the 47th president”. ICE has not officially confirmed this is the reasoning, but it honestly would not surprise me in the least if it turns out to be true.
In order to meet this accelerated timeline, ICE decided to cut primary Spanish-language learning requirements from training. Can you see how this would be an issue when ICE agents target people based on language and accents?
Due to this error in training, ICE has sent out hundreds, if not thousands, of untrained agents onto US streets. This is dangerous for everyone involved: citizens, protesters, local law enforcement officers, and even other ICE agents.
