What training programs (FLETC, BIETP, HSISAT) are required after selection for ICE special agents and deportation officers?
Executive summary
The career-path split inside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement channels new hires into distinct, mandatory training pipelines: Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents must complete FLETC’s foundational Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP) and then agency-specific HSISAT, while Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) deportation officers must complete BIETP at FLETC plus a short Spanish-language course and physical assessment; multiple ICE and FLETC sources confirm these named programs but differ on some durations and campus details [1] [2] [3]. Reporting from ICE and FLETC shows program accreditation and collaboration but also reveals inconsistent public descriptions of weeks/days for the same courses, which warrants caution when quoting exact lengths [3] [4].
1. HSI special agents: two-tiered federal then agency-specific training
To become an HSI special agent, recruits first attend FLETC’s Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP), described across ICE and FLETC materials as the foundational criminal-investigator course (roughly 12 weeks in many accounts) and then proceed to HSI’s own specialized HSISAT for agency-specific instruction—including customs and immigration law, surveillance, undercover techniques, firearms, case development and physical conditioning [1] [2] [4]. ICE’s public guidance explicitly requires passage of both CITP and HSISAT as the basic credentialing path for special agents, and the HSI Academy at FLETC runs HSISAT as a fully accredited program taught by experienced HSI agents to prepare trainees for investigative duties [4] [2]. Multiple ICE releases and program descriptions emphasize the sequential nature—federal criminal investigator fundamentals first, HSI mission-specific tradecraft next—making both components mandatory after selection [1] [4].
2. ERO deportation officers: BIETP, Spanish language training, and physical testing
New ERO deportation officers are required to complete the ERO Basic Immigration Law Enforcement Training Program (BIETP) at the FLETC/ICE Academy and a five-week ERO Spanish Language Training Program (DSP); ICE’s career FAQs list both as prerequisites following selection, and ICE communications describe BIETP as the primary basic course for deportation officers [1] [3]. ICE public pages and archived press materials variously state BIETP durations—16 weeks in ICE FAQs and 20 weeks in ICE Academy commentary—so while BIETP is uniformly presented as mandatory, the publicly reported length differs across ICE sources [1] [3]. ICE materials also note that trainees must pass a Physical Abilities Assessment (PAA) to continue their careers as deportation officers, underscoring that BIETP is part of a broader gateway including language and fitness requirements [1].
3. Other pathways, uniformed roles, and program names that complicate a simple tally
ICE documentation lists several legacy and equivalency courses (Border Patrol Academy, legacy IOBTC, ETP/ETPSA) and notes that task-specific or legacy training combinations can substitute in some hiring pathways—meaning that while BIETP and HSISAT/CITP are the core modern programs, variants and equivalencies still appear in ICE material and FLETC form listings [1] [5]. Uniformed Police Training Program (UPTP) for TEOs and advanced firearms or specialized FAD offerings are also part of ICE training infrastructure referenced in ICE and FLETC summaries, indicating mandatory basic programs can be followed by numerous occupationally required courses [1] [6]. ICE press releases stress the collaborative accreditation of BIETP and HSISAT (FLETA) and the central role of the ICE Academy at FLETC’s Glynco campus in delivering those programs [3] [2].
4. What the sources don’t resolve and how to read conflicting durations
ICE and FLETC sources consistently identify the same required programs for each job family—CITP then HSISAT for HSI special agents; BIETP plus Spanish training (and a PAA) for ERO deportation officers—but they are not consistent about exact program lengths, with different ICE pages and releases citing 12 weeks, 13 weeks, 71 days, 16 weeks, or 20 weeks for overlapping courses [1] [2] [4] [3]. That divergence suggests the need to rely on the hiring offer letter or ICE’s careers office for the cohort-specific schedule rather than a single public press snippet; the provided sources establish program requirements definitively but do not offer a single authoritative timetable applicable to every hiring cycle [1] [4].