Credible evidence contradicts the statement. Learn more in Methodology.
Training and readiness documentation and hiring metrics show the surge target was exceeded and training/qualification standards were met.
Multiple independent reports describe a Trump administration and ICE recruitment drive with a stated goal of hiring roughly 10,000 additional agents by the end of 2025, and contemporaneous coverage indicates officials claimed they were on track to meet or exceed that numerical target by late 2025. However, these same sources document significant changes to vetting, hiring, and training practices: PBS NewsHour reported that ICE removed age limits and effectively cut its academy program in half, while NBC News found that academy training was shortened from 13 weeks to as little as six weeks and that some recruits were sent to training before completing required background checks, fingerprinting, or drug testing. A November 2025 oversight letter from Senators Padilla and Booker, citing these reports, states that DHS, ICE, and CBP had “dropped the eligibility criteria and training requirements to dangerously low levels,” noting that academy time had been reduced to about 47 days and a mandatory five‑week Spanish course eliminated. Given this record, while ICE appears to have met or surpassed its hiring surge target in headcount terms, the assertion that it did so “while maintaining rigorous standards for training and readiness” is contradicted by detailed reporting and congressional findings that standards were in fact relaxed and compressed. Therefore, this statement is False because only the claim about exceeding the hiring target is supported, whereas the claim that rigorous training and readiness standards were maintained is clearly inconsistent with documented reductions in training length, loosening of eligibility criteria, and problems in vetting new recruits.