GLYNCO, Ga. — The Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers has launched a new effort to help onboard thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel while working to maintain training for its other law enforcement partners, according to a news release.
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According to the Aug. 30 statement, FLETC has been tasked with training 10,000 new ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers and 1,000 Homeland Security Investigations agents by the end of 2025. The agency said it will prioritize those surge requirements while continuing essential training for federal, state, local, tribal and international partners.
Some courses may be rescheduled to accommodate the expanded demand, but the agency said it is working to minimize disruptions and plans to begin rescheduling affected classes as early as Fiscal Year 2026.
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To manage the increased demands, FLETC has launched a Surge Training Operations Center. The new center will coordinate logistics and resource planning, explore the use of temporary facilities, and evaluate additional training sites.
Partner agencies continuing to receive training support during the surge include:
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
- Federal Bureau of Prisons
- U.S. Marshals Service
- U.S. Coast Guard
- U.S. Border Patrol (CBP)
- Transportation Security Administration
- U.S. Secret Service
- U.S. Capitol Police
- U.S. Park Police
- Fish and Wildlife Service
- Bureau of Indian Affairs
- National Park Service
- Federal Air Marshal Service
- Air and Marine Operations – CBP
- Office of Field Operations – CBP
- Federal Protective Service
FLETC said it also continues to support state, local, tribal and international law enforcement training as resources allow.
Do you think FLETC can meet the ICE training surge without disrupting courses for other law enforcement partners?
Police1 readers respond
- No, they can’t. They’ve already straight cancelled NPS recruit classes in FY26. FLETC limits the number of recruits the NPS can send in a year; we weren’t going to be able send enough recruits through to even meet current attrition rates as it was. NPS LEO vacancy numbers across the country are averaging around 50% staffing due to mandatory age retirements, transfers, and resignations. No recruits in FY26 will be a disaster.
Yes, they can meet the surge if they adjust current training needs for CBP and BPA from six months of attendance at the academy for current recruits by cutting out all the fluff and going to an intensive 48-day training like ICE is about to do. They can save on housing time, bus service expense, and food service costs, reducing from six months to 48 days per class with three meals a day.
Also, many of the classes can be completed at the home port duty station online in the pre-academy and post-academy, freeing up space at FLETC. The training schedule really needs to be fixed. I noticed lots of filler classes and subjects that can be completed on recruits’ own time while in downtime at the facility in order to graduate early.
The main training in law enforcement is legal aspects, first aid, firearms, defensive tactics, and immigration law. Physical training is outdated and needs to be updated to the current environment. No law enforcement officer can run 1.5 miles in full gear, vest, regular shoes, and gun belt in the maximum time allowed. In fact, current on-duty officers would fail the PT requirements today if tested by the standard used now.
My suggestion is new recruits should be able to run a 220 in full gear, vest, and uniform with uniform shoes, not running tennis shoes, in a certain time given — pass or fail, period. They lose too many new recruits to injury and failure in this part of the process. This is a waste of resources and money invested in an individual over six months, only to get to the end of the final PT test and fail the 1.5-mile run in the required time.
If you are not in shape when you get to FLETC, why should time be spent getting a person in shape? If you passed the hiring process PFT (Physical Fitness Test), you should be good to go. This training should be six days a week to cut training to 48 days like the others, which will make it easier on families and recruits in the long run. Just a thought — just saying.
