A former instructor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday accused the agency of dramatically slashing training standards for new officers and lying to Congress about it as the Trump administration seeks to rapidly expand its mass deportation operation. Ryan Schwank, who resigned from his job at an ICE academy in Georgia last week, told congressional Democrats at a hearing that the agency eliminated 240 hours of "vital classes" from a mandatory 580-hour training program, including instruction about the legal boundaries for the use of force, how to safely handle firearms, and the proper way to detain and arrest immigrants. Do you find this news to be disturbing?

"Law enforcement is a deadly serious business. It is not a place for shortcuts," Schwank said. "Deficient training can and will get people killed. … ICE is lying to Congress and the American people about the steps it is taking to ensure that 12,000 officers can faithfully uphold the Constitution and perform their jobs." Ahead of the hearing, Schwank provided a joint panel of House and Senate Democrats copies of internal ICE documents that he said show the extent of the cuts. The documents indicated that the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers in Glynco, Georgia, shortened its training program from 72 days to 42 days. Do you think that six weeks of training is adequate for new ICE Officers to be properly trained to do their jobs?

In a statement Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said ICE recruits receive 56 days of training before beginning their assignments, along with an average of 28 additional days of "on-the-job-training." DHS said recruits are receiving the same total hours of training as they always have. "No training hours have been cut. Our officers receive extensive firearm training, are taught de-escalation tactics, and receive Fourth and Fifth Amendment comprehensive instruction," said Lauren Bis, a spokeswoman for the department. Schwank said that among the classes eliminated were 16 hours of firearms training. He also said that a two-hour class on the rights of protesters was shortened into 10 minutes of discussion during a lecture on "the concept of seizure." Do you think that the Department of Homeland Security and ICE officials have lied to Congress and misled the American people about the training that new ICE recruits receive?

Do you feel that the Trump administration is enforcing immigration laws in a legal and humane manner?