Does ICE train in Israel?
Executive summary
Yes — multiple investigative reports and activist campaigns say ICE personnel have participated in training exchanges with Israeli military and security bodies over the past two decades, often via programs run by the Anti-Defamation League, university exchange programs, and private contractors [1] [2] [3]. The scope and frequency are disputed: campaign groups describe “thousands” of U.S. law‑enforcement and ICE agents attending such programs [3] [4], while some public records disclosed by activists identify named ICE leaders who traveled to ADL‑organized seminars in Israel [5] [6].
1. What the reporting actually documents
Investigative and advocacy reporting documents repeated exchanges that bring U.S. law‑enforcement executives — including FBI, Border Patrol, and ICE — to Israel for seminars, demonstrations and visits with the Israel Defense Forces, Israel Police and security agencies, and it names concrete programs such as the ADL’s National Counter‑Terrorism Seminar and Georgia’s GILEE exchange [1] [2] [7]. Campaigners cite Freedom of Information results showing specific U.S. officials on ADL seminar participant lists and invoke those records to claim ICE participation at least in certain years, including the 2015 ADL seminar attended by Peter Edge, later an ICE deputy director [5] [6].
2. Scale claims and who is making them
Broad claims that “thousands” of U.S. police, sheriffs, Border Patrol, ICE and FBI agents have trained in Israel come primarily from advocacy campaigns such as Deadly Exchange and allied groups, which compile participant lists and historical program totals to argue the exchanges are extensive and targeted at senior officers [3] [4]. Independent outlets including Al Jazeera report similar narratives about large numbers over decades and name federal agencies — including ICE — among attendees [1]. Those figures are presented by critics to substantiate systemic influence; proponents of the programs describe them as limited, high‑level counter‑terrorism exchanges and leadership seminars [2].
3. What kinds of training and partnerships are described
Sources describe a mix of classroom seminars, site visits (checkpoints, prisons, border areas), technology demonstrations, and vendor trainings — covering counter‑terrorism, surveillance, crowd control and forensics tools — with private Israeli companies and think tanks often involved as hosts or contractors [2] [3] [8]. Investigative pieces and opinion writers tie these trainings and Israeli vendors to technologies and tactics later used by U.S. agencies, including allegations about surveillance systems and forensic tools sold to or used by ICE [9] [8].
4. Points of contention and evidentiary limits
The strongest available documentation names specific programs, organizers and at least some individual U.S. attendees; activists have produced FOIA booklets and participant lists to make that case [5] [6]. However, public records are incomplete: some campaign pages acknowledge gaps in verifying ICE participation for every year and are still seeking records [6]. Mainstream outlets and opinion writers amplify the pattern and consequences but do not always publish raw participant manifests that would quantify exact ICE attendance across time [1] [9].
5. How this matters and competing narratives
Critics argue these exchanges transfer “worst practices” from an occupying security environment to U.S. policing and immigration enforcement, citing examples and technology links to make a systemic case [4] [3]. Defenders frame the programs as leadership counter‑terrorism education and transnational cooperation; the ADL and similar organizers present the trips as training and professional exchanges rather than operational blueprints [2]. Given activist FOIA results identifying named ICE officials attending ADL seminars and multiple corroborating reports that federal immigration agents have been among U.S. delegations, the conclusion that ICE has trained in Israel is supported by the available reporting while acknowledging public‑record gaps about exact scale and frequency [5] [1] [6].