ICE ditches in-person trainings on history and tolerance, opts for online courses from LinkedIn
The agency has scrapped "experiential learning" contracts with institutions like the Museum of Tolerance, which grounded its lessons in the history of the Holocaust.
This reporting is funded entirely by readers like you. Support us with a paid subscription or one-time donation.
Top brass at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are no longer taking part in on-site "experiential learning" courses hosted by institutions like the Museum of Tolerance, with officials now expected to pursue career development exclusively through online courses hosted by LinkedIn.
In a notice posted on the website for federal contracting opportunities, ICE said it was entering into a five-year agreement to purchase "LinkedIn Learning licenses" from Carahsoft Technology Corp., which resells computer software to government agencies. LinkedIn is itself owned by Microsoft.
Although the notice the annual cost of the deal was redacted in the document, public records show that the Department of Homeland Security, under which ICE operates, recently committed up to $346,450 for LinkedIn licenses for "professional development" at the agency. LinkedIn hosts thousands of online courses on everything from leadership strategies to artificial intelligence.
"No other vendor has the depth and breadth of the training content available in LinkedIn Learning," ICE says in the notice to justify purchasing the licenses outside of a competitive bidding process.
It is not the first time ICE turned to LinkedIn for such purposes: in 2023, under the Biden administration, DHS spent $18,500 on LinkedIn Learning licenses for the agency. What is different is that the Trump administration is now going exclusively online.
According to ICE, its "experiential learning" arrangements were ended in 2025 pursuant to an executive order from President Donald Trump on "eliminating waste and saving taxpayer dollars." Those arrangements included contracts with "Gettysburg, Mt. Vernon, and Museum of Tolerance," the agency said in the notice. The cost savings is redacted.
Charles R. Davis
In years past, ICE leadership took part in a multi-day leadership training course at Gettysburg National Park, where historians would explain the strategic and ethical decisions made on the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania. Federal records show the most recent federal award for that training, valued at just over $172,000 as part of a multi-year $1.4 million contract, was terminated in March 2025.
Similar leadership trainings are hosted by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association at George Washington's estate in Virginia. Federal records show the association was awarded just over $14,000 in April 2025 for "executive leadership training" involving ICE officials.
In 2016, under President Barack Obama, ICE was the first federal agency to partner with the Los Angeles-based Museum of Tolerance, an institution founded by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. The museum "is a human rights laboratory and educational center dedicated to challenging visitors to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts," ICE noted in a press statement at the time, "and confront all forms of prejudice and discrimination in today's world."
In the inaugural training, dubbed "tools for tolerance," ICE officials heard "from guest speakers, including Congressional Gold Medal recipient Terrence James Roberts, who was among the first nine black students to attend classes at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957," the statement said.
Federal records show that ICE's relationship with the Museum of Tolerance, which received just over $107,000 per year for its training, was terminated in March 2025.
Education appears to be one of the few areas where ICE is cutting back. The agency, which has been criticized for shortening the amount of training received by new recruits, now has an annual budget of more than $104 billion, up from $9.8 billion the year before Trump returned to office.
Appreciate original reporting? Support us with a paid subscription or one-time donation. And follow The Redoubt on Bluesky.
