ICE Scraps Spanish-Language Requirement for Incoming Agents

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US Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently removed a long-standing five-week Spanish-language training program requirement for new recruits.

The removal of the requirement, which was confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security, reflects both collapsing non-English government services and the softening of qualifications to become an immigration agent.

“This is consistent with DHS under this administration,” said Scott Shuchart, a former ICE assistant director under the Biden administration, “lowering hiring standards to prioritize getting warm bodies behind masks and guns, rather than getting qualified and vetted people into a job that can be dangerous and demands real training and skill.”

Although ICE doesn’t release information on languages spoken by detainees, available statistics show that the vast majority of arrestees hail from primarily Spanish-speaking countries.

On Reddit threads, people claiming to be potential ICE recruits met rumors of the change in requirement with a mix of support and disdain.

ICE is on a hiring spree following a boost of $175 million to immigration enforcement in President Donald Trump’s budget. ICE’s budget for officers is now higher than the FBI’s.

In recent months, after Trump’s executive order designating English as the official language of the U.S., government agencies have cut back on services for other languages.

Although Trump’s diktat says that nothing in the order “requires or directs any change in the services provided by any agency,” several agencies have nevertheless reduced non-English-language support. The Department of Homeland Security, for instance, will no longer provide translation services for those calling in with questions about their employment status or benefits.

In an email to The Intercept, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed the five-week Spanish-language training was no longer required.

“ICE simply replaced the 5-week in-person Spanish course with a more robust translation service for all officers regardless of when they entered on duty,” she said. “We are using technology not only to save U.S. taxpayer dollars but to also broaden our ability to communicate with illegal aliens we regularly encounter from countries across the globe.”

McLaughlin did not respond to a follow-up on what the technology in question would be, but regular law enforcement suppliers have been rolling out translation tools in recent years.

Axon, for instance, the company made famous for making the Taser stun gun, has a $5.1 million contract to provide Homeland Security with body-worn cameras. The firm advertises that its latest body camera has real-time “push-to-talk voice translation” in over 50 languages.

The decision to replace language skills with technology could create problems, said Shuchart, who is currently a lawyer in private practice.

“It bespeaks a real disrespect for ICE officers and agents, and noncitizens,” he said, “to think that their life-and-death encounters can just be mediated by commercial AI tools that have never been tested in a law enforcement environment.”