ICE Academy Shortened Its Training to Just 47 Days Under Trump in Nod to the 47th President, Report Claims

Following the shooting death of a 37-year-old mother in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, new questions are being raised about training procedures for Immigration and Customs Enforcement recruits.

An August 2025 exposé by The Atlantic's Nick Miroff reported, "New deportation officers at ICE used to receive about five months of federal-law-enforcement training. Administration officials have cut that time roughly in half, partly by eliminating Spanish-language courses."

"Academy training was shortened to 47 days, three officials told me, the number picked because Trump is the 47th president."

The Atlantic cited DHS officials as saying that the training now runs six days a week for eight weeks.

In response to PEOPLE's inquiry about the reduced number of training days, a senior DHS official replied, "False. Training to become an Enforcement and Removal Operations officer is 8 weeks long." The official did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for clarification, since eight weeks matches the timeframe that The Atlantic previously reported.

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In the statement provided to PEOPLE, the DHS official explained the updated ICE training process, saying, "Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) [are] prepared to accommodate 11,000 new hires by the beginning of next year. ICE continuously evaluates and modernizes its training programs and curriculum. We have streamlined training to cut redundancy and incorporate technology advancements."

"No subject matter has been cut," the official continued. "Candidates still learn the same elements and meet the same high standards ICE has always required. Language classes, which previously covered only a specific dialect of Spanish, have been replaced with robust translation and interpretation services that apply to multiple languages."

"ICE is building a rigorous on-the-job training program that will be mandatory and tracked online and monitored closely. We want new hires to take what they learn at FLETC and apply it in real-life scenarios while on duty," the statement said.

"The baseline courses at FLETC provide a solid foundation for the situations our agents and officers will encounter in the field. As with most other fields, our workforce never stops learning. Each office is staffed with senior officials who mentor, coach and train agents and officers every step of the way, preserving ICE’s reputation as one of the most elite federal law enforcement agencies in the United States.”

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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — who said on Thursday that the ICE officer who killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis "followed his training" — has faced criticism for "showy operations" in the cities where she is sending agents.

One day before the ICE raids in Minneapolis that led to Good's death, the DHS X account mockingly posted "GOOD MORNING MINNEAPOLIS!" as a way to announce the influx of incoming officers.

“They love this cowboy s---,” one frustrated ICE official was quoted as saying in the August Atlantic piece.

Good, a U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by an ICE officer on Wednesday, Jan. 7. She was in the driver’s seat of her car at the time, while seemingly being confronted by ICE agents. As she pulled the car forward, one ICE agent fired directly into the vehicle multiple times, fatally wounding her. The incident was captured on camera from multiple angles.

In an X post following the shooting, DHS called Good a “domestic terrorist,” claiming ICE agents had acted in self-defense.

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Good’s mother, Donna Ganger, told The Minnesota Star Tribune that the circumstances of her daughter's death were "so stupid," adding that Good was “one of the kindest people I’ve ever known.”

“She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life,” Ganger said. “She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”

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ICE agents are also being accused of denying medical care to Good in the aftermath of the shooting.

Video taken by a witness and obtained by the Huffington Post picks up after the shooting, when Good's SUV crashed into a parked car. In it, a man who identified himself as a doctor asked officers on the scene if he could check her pulse, and was denied.

"I'm a physician," the man replied.

"I don't care," one agent is heard saying, while another says that EMS is on the way and that they had their own medics on scene. However, over the course of the 32-second video, no one is seen treating Good's injuries.

On Jan. 8, multiple outlets reported that Minnesota investigators have announced the FBI is denying them access to evidence and refusing to work jointly on investigating the shooting.