ICE whistleblower shares insight into training at Georgia facility
ICE whistleblower shares insight into training at Georgia facility
Irene Wright, USA TODAYWed, February 25, 2026 at 6:43 PM UTC
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New Immigration and Customs Enforcement cadets are being instructed to violate the constitution, a former lawyer with the agency said before members of Congress this week.
The ICE whistleblower, identified as Ryan Schwank, a former attorney with the agency and someone who was assigned to teach cadets, spoke in front of lawmakers investigating possible DHS misconduct.
Schwank joined ICE in 2021, but resigned Feb. 13 after he was assigned to a training facility in Glynco, Georgia.
What did the ICE whistleblower say?
"The ICE academy is deficient, defective, and broken," Schwank told lawmakers on Feb. 23. "On my first day, I received secretive orders to teach new cadets to violate the Constitution by entering homes without a judicial warrant."
Schwank went on to reaffirm Homeland Security has cut down training time for new recruits and fully eliminated use of force trainings, while doubling down on agents not needing a warrant to enter someone's home, even as two U.S. citizens were shot and killed in Minneapolis, and a third was killed during a car chase in Savannah, Georgia.
"Never in my career had I ever received such a blatantly unlawful order, nor one conveyed in such a troubling manner," Schwank testified. "Incredibly, I was being shown this memo in secret by my supervisor, who made sure that I understood that disobedience could cost me my job."
What is the Glynco training campus in Georgia?
Schwank trained new ICE recruits at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, situated between Savannah and Jacksonville, Florida on the Atlantic coast.
The center is large enough to have it's own zip code, but is just outside the northwestern border of Brunswick. It includes 1,600 acres of "classrooms, dormitories, and administrative and logistical support structures," along with a dining hall that can serve thousands of meals.
Trainees have access to firearms ranges, driver training, an explosives range, a mock port of entry and a 34-building "neighborhood" for practical exercises.
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A welcome packet found on the center's website includes information on "critical incident stress management" as well as fire safety laws, tick warnings, bug repellent instructions, how to get on the Wi-Fi, ombudsman resources and library access.
Could Georgia become new ICE stronghold?
The Glynco center is just one of the multiple ICE facilities that will be operational in Georgia by the end of the year.
ICE already operates a regional hub office in Atlanta, and coordinates operations in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina from the site on Ted Turner Drive SW in downtown.
A second ICE office was confirmed to be coming to Atlanta in January, this time in College Park on the city's south side. The exact location of the office was not disclosed, but the College Park mayor said local officials had not been involved in the decision. A spokesperson for the agency specified the new office was not part of a coordinated DHS operation, like the one in Minneapolis, but was part of a larger initiative to increase the number of ICE agents.
The announcement also worried officials overseeing the World Cup, which will host eight matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. When asked about a possible ICE presence at the games, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said his administration hopes "their presence will be small, unnoticeable, negligible, invisible — and maybe nonexistent."
There will be more ICE presence around Atlanta this year, independent of the World Cup, as a new detention facility in Social Circle, Georgia becomes operational. Another processing facility in Oakwood, Georgia is also expected to begin operations this spring.
Officials from both towns were strongly against the Department of Homeland Security purchases of warehouses in their towns for the purpose of housing detainees, and residents of the towns themselves have spoken out against the incursion.
Politicians in the state house and U.S. Congress have tried to pass legislation that would prevent additional DHS funds to be used for property purchases in Georgia, but none have been passed into law so far.
Irene Wright is the Atlanta Connect reporter with USA Today’s Deep South Connect team. Find her on X @IreneEWright or email her at ismith@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ICE whistleblower shares training directive from inside Georgia center
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