To meet the demand, Noem said training at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Academy that once took up to a year to complete could be hastened to a matter of weeks, if the applicant has the relevant training and experience.
The ABC7 I-Team had a rare look at some of the ICE Academy training materials for new agents that immigrant rights advocates say is concerning and their lawyers argue is illegal.
It was January 26, 2025, at 11:05 a.m. when ICE agents parked on a residential street noted in their report that they thought they spotted their target in Lyons, Illinois: 47-year-old Abel Orozco.
According to an ICE record of the arrest reviewed by the I-Team, agents pulled Orozco over, arrested him, and after some time, realized they had the wrong person.
Agents "reviewed the [original] target's case and observed that the date of birth was not consistent with the [driver's license Orozco] provided," the report states.
The ICE agents' warrant was not for Abel Orozco, it was for his oldest son, the report notes. But after checking DHS systems, agents said they discovered a decades-old removal order for the father, so they prepared a new warrant on the spot.
Orozco remains in ICE custody in a Kentucky detention center, according to ICE's detainee locator website. His next court hearing is scheduled for later this month.
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The I-Team has learned ICE agents preparing warrants on the spot is not uncommon, in fact, it was part of their training.
A 39-page document obtained by the I-Team titled "ICE Academy Team Tactics" includes PowerPoint training slides for new agents in the Chicago area.
The slides pre-date the second Trump administration, according to attorneys who received the slides as part of several lawsuits against the federal immigration agency.
The slides include the typical banalities of corporate learning: "There is no I in team," and "Good communication is the key to success before, during and after."
But a section of slides titled "Warrantless Arrests" have now been challenged in court.
"Officers may also carry a blank form I-200," referencing I-200 DHS arrest warrants.
The slide states that the warrants "may not be pre signed" rather "a supervisor needs to be... in the field to sign the I-200."
National Immigrant Justice Center attorney Mark Fleming has argued in court this instruction created a workaround for ICE to avoid following a 2022 court order on warrantless arrests.
"We're just deeply troubled that ICE, you know, has spent the past couple years apparently trying to create workarounds to evade the court's order," Fleming told the I-Team.
According to the 2022 "Castanon Nava" settlement agreement, to arrest someone without a warrant, the court order required ICE agents to meet two criteria: Is there probable cause to believe someone is in the US illegally, and are they also a flight risk.
But the National Immigrant Justice Center has argued ICE flouted that requirement by having agents prepare warrants on-scene, therefore avoiding the "warrantless" requirements.
"Instead of focusing on getting their officers into compliance with what Congress has said is their arrest authority... they decided to establish a parallel universe of policies and procedures, and frankly, unlawful policies and procedures as to how to make arrests in the field," Fleming said.
SEE ALSO | More immigration judges terminated as Trump administration works to cut down massive case backlog
At a recent court hearing held to determine whether ICE has violated the terms of the 2022 Castanon Nava court order, an attorney representing the government said this training was legal and within the terms of the settlement agreement.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security would not comment on the training materials, citing "pending litigation."
Attorneys expect a judge to rule on whether the agreement was violated by ICE any day now.
The training scrutiny comes at a time when ICE is reporting a hiring surge.
When President Trump signed his "big beautiful bill" into law last month, it included the largest infusion of cash into ICE coffers: An unprecedented $75 billion, with some of those funds earmarked for hiring more deportation officers.
Speaking in Chicago Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Noem said training time for some agents will decrease in an effort to hasten hiring.
"It'll be within weeks because we're going to give them credit for what they already know. If they're former law enforcement, they already have training and certifications that we will honor and look at," Noem said. "They'll still go through testing. They'll still go through drug testing and physical tests and all of that but we want to make sure it's expedited where we check the box if they have the experience."