The Trump administration is implementing significant changes within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), planning to reassign senior leaders across the agency’s offices nationwide due to ongoing frustrations over current arrest and deportation rates. Two sources familiar with the matter informed CBS News that approximately a dozen local ICE leaders might be reassigned, with some potentially replaced by officials from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is also part of the Department of Homeland Security.
This planned restructuring would represent a major overhaul of leadership, impacting nearly half of ICE’s 25 field offices. Sources indicated that while these directors would not face demotion or termination, the changes aim to enhance support for specific ICE offices.
The Trump administration has increasingly relied on CBP and Border Patrol officials, such as Commander Gregory Bovino, to bolster its crackdown on illegal immigration. These agents have been deployed to apprehend unauthorized immigrants far from the U.S.-Mexico border, including in Democratic-led cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. However, this has sparked considerable local backlash, with criticism aimed at the perceived aggressiveness of these operations, particularly in locations such as Home Depot parking lots and car washes, where individuals without criminal records have faced arrest.
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin stated that while no personnel changes were officially announced, the administration remains focused on removing violent criminal illegal aliens from the country. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson emphasized that the President’s team is united in executing his policy agenda, highlighting the successes in border security and the deportation of criminal aliens.
However, internal frustrations exist among some ICE officials regarding the operations of Border Patrol in urban areas and the local resistance they have faced. Despite the Trump administration’s policy of subjecting anyone in the U.S. illegally to arrest, ICE has maintained that its operations primarily target those who have committed crimes in addition to their immigration status.
Currently, ICE’s operational performance has not met the ambitious arrest targets set by the White House. In spring, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller indicated that ICE should aim for a minimum of 3,000 arrests per day, while ICE typically averages just over 1,000 daily arrests, with peaks above 2,000 on occasion.
In recent developments, ICE has executed more than 260,000 arrests under the second Trump administration, averaging about 900 arrests per day. The agency has seen considerable leadership turnover, having shuffled its leadership multiple times. Caleb Vitello, the initial appointee to lead ICE in this administration, was reassigned earlier this year and succeeded by Todd Lyons, an agency veteran currently serving as acting director. Notably, ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed director since early 2017, during the Obama administration.
As the administration seeks to revamp ICE’s leadership and operational strategies, it aims to address the challenges presented by its aggressive immigration enforcement agenda while navigating local opposition and operational effectiveness. This initiative underscores the ongoing complexities and tensions surrounding immigration policy in the United States.