U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has run a secretive program for years where ICE agents have trained hundreds of civilian volunteers on how to operate multiple types of firearms, conduct investigations and surveillance of immigrants, and use lethal force on human beings.

The program, known as Citizens Academies, includes role-play scenarios for civilians to conduct fictional raids on immigrants and is active in New York and in more than a dozen cities across the country. The program is run by Homeland Security Investigations, the branch of ICE in charge of intelligence, international affairs, and surveillance.

According to thousands of internal documents obtained from ICE via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request litigation, published on Oct. 1 by a group of civil rights organizations, the program was piloted first in Puerto Rico in 2014 and turned national in 2019.

An ICE spokesperson confirmed to Documented that HSI’s Citizens Academies are still ongoing across the country. Similar initiatives are implemented by other law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the spokesperson said.

The documents were obtained by the Immigrant Defense Project and Organized Communities Against Deportations, with the legal assistance of Beyond Legal Aid, Latino Justice, and the Center for Constitutional Rights. They include detailed images showing where to strike with a baton or a weapon to cause differentiated harms on the body.

“It is a violent and racist program, where people pretending to be violent ICE officers got to hold guns and fire them in role-play situations where agents pretended to be immigrants,” said Ian Head, Open Records project manager at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) a legal center advocating and defending human and constitutional rights. .

Started in 2014 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the academies were “fully implement[ed]” across ICE field offices during the Trump administration. The program was paused in 2020, when the other branch of ICE, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) — whose mission is to arrest and deport non-citizens — announced an academy in Chicago.

It is not clear, however, when the program was resumed. Internal ICE documents dated in 2022 outline the program’s goals, which involve “a series of real-world experiences and investigative activities” like those carried out by ICE agents.

During the interactive six-day program, occurring weekly for six weeks, participants will hear directly from ERO officers and learn about ICE policies and procedures. The Citizens Academy also affords ICE the opportunity to hear from participants, understand their perspectives and debunk myths.

The curriculum will include, but is not limited to, classroom instruction, visiting an immigration detention center, learning more about the health care ICE provides to those in its custody, and examining ICE’s role in ensuring dignity, respect and due process of an immigration case from start to finish. ICE is inviting interested participants from a variety of stakeholder backgrounds such as community groups, state and local elected leaders, Congressional staff, consular officials, and business and religious leaders.

Some Special Agent in Charge (SAC) offices host citizen's academies that provide selected business, religious, civic, and community leaders a unique opportunity to learn the role of federal law enforcement in their local community.

Participants learn about HSI’s authorities and offices, experience HSI operations, learn how we serve, and learn how to partner with us to improve the safety and security of our local communities.

Our Citizen's Academy consists of a 7-week curriculum that meets once a week. Each session is approximately 3 hours. Attendees learn about HSI investigations in hands-on, interactive activities, such as:

Mock surveillance operations
Firearms demonstration and hands-on experience
Tactics and operations demonstrations
Candidates must meet the following criteria:

Be a recognized business, religious, or community leader.
Live and/or work within the SAC's jurisdiction.
Be at least 21 years old.
Consent to a limited background investigation.
Attend all meetings.

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