Push For Greater Ice Training Grows On Some Republicans

A handful of GOP lawmakers are showing an openness to Democrats’ demand that immigration officers should get more training in the wake of the shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis.

These lawmakers are not going so far as to criticize the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement outright — and Republicans on the Hill are mostly backing the Trump administration’s ICE operations — but they’re raising the possibility that additional training could make such shootings less likely.

“The more training they could have, the better it’ll be, because they’re dealing with some strange stuff going on that’s coming at them in a lot of different directions,” said Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), noting how ICE officers use masks to prevent online activists from doxxing them or their families.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the current vice chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, said that while ICE officers are already getting detailed training, more would be helpful.

“Law enforcement needs training to be aware of how to handle certain situations,” he said. “It’s hard to sit there and take it and get abused.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, emphasized that the bigger issue is the existence of sanctuary cities, which he argued forced federal agents to conduct these kinds of crackdowns. But he added: “I’m not against more training.”

Democrats on the Hill have been pushing for reforms at ICE following the shooting, and many of their demands have centered on increased training to help officers better defuse tense and potentially violent encounters with protesters and civilian observers. A group of House Democrats is looking to include language in this year’s Homeland Security funding bill that would increase training requirements for ICE officers.

The calls for new training for ICE agents and other immigration officers come as Immigration and Customs Enforcement is facing one of its greatest crises of public legitimacy. Polls by Quinnipiac and by YouGov released this month suggest that a majority of Americans believe ICE is using too much force in carrying out immigration operations. Polling also shows that support for abolishing the immigration enforcement agency outright is rapidly increasing.

Per some moderate Republicans, a change in ICE’s approach is overdue.

“They need to show more balance in enforcement and more compassion and empathy in enforcement,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.), an influential moderate who’s worked with Democrats to pass legislation the White House opposes.

The administration has rejected accusations that ICE officers are overstepping and is showing no signs of backing away from aggressive immigration enforcement.

“The officers that we have out there are very highly trained and skilled, specific for the operations they're doing. They're utilizing the most gifted individuals in these operations to go out and do enforcement,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters Thursday.

President Donald Trump defended ICE in an interview with CBS News that aired Tuesday, saying ICE is "working very hard" to arrest and deport unauthorized immigrants, but "their job is being made very, very difficult."

Asked about ICE’s tactics, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said that “ICE officers conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism and integrity to protect American citizens from criminal illegal aliens.”

There are still plenty of Republicans on Capitol Hill unwilling to consider any changes at ICE.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, expressed skepticism that more training could help, noting these are often “split-second” decisions from federal law enforcement officers.

Others lay the blame on protesters who they argue are escalating encounters with ICE officers in ways they never would with other law enforcement.

“Training’s not going to fix this,” said Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas). “This is really going to be a deescalation of people thinking they can harm agents or get away or evade. It has to be a point where people understand when they’re being confronted by an ICE agent, that’s at the end of the road. That’s not the beginning of the due process, it’s the end of the due process.”

For critics of the agency, the shooting of Good last week has only added to the perception that ICE officers are acting with impunity. Good’s killing was the ninth ICE-related shooting since Trump returned to the White House — highlighting concerns that DHS leadership, in the hopes of meeting lofty targets for removals, may have relaxed training requirements and the rules of engagement for ICE officers.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

The most recently available agency guidelines around the use of force are from 2023. It is unclear if the Trump administration has at all modified the rules around how much force ICE agents can use.

Some Democrats are keen to go further than demanding reforms or additional training and want to hold Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to account for the shooting. Some House Democrats have already filed articles of impeachment against Noem as Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee initiate what they describe as a “process of accountability” against Noem for ICE abuses that could end in impeachment.

“Kristi Noem plainly tried to signal to ICE that they are free to act with impunity, to personally manufacture and escalate confrontation, and even execute whomever they please. And she will have their back,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said at a Wednesday press conference.

At the same time, some influential voices in Trump’s coalition have become critical of how ICE is operating.

"You don't want militarized people in the streets just roaming around, snatching up people — many of which turn out to be U.S. citizens that just don't have their papers on them. Are we really gonna be the Gestapo, 'Where's your papers?' Is that what we've come to?" podcaster Joe Rogan, who endorsed Trump in 2024, said in a recent episode of his podcast.