ICE Leadership Shake-Up Amid Increased Focus on Deportations

Two top Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have been removed from their positions as the White House intensifies pressure on the agency to boost arrests and deportations in fulfillment of President Donald Trump's commitment to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. This change comes from an administration official and a source familiar with the decision.

Russell Hott and Peter Berg, who previously held senior roles in ICE’s enforcement division, will return to the Washington field office and to St. Paul, Minnesota, respectively. Meanwhile, Todd Lyons, who formerly managed ICE's Boston office, has been appointed as the acting head of ICE Enforcement and Removal operations, as reported first by the Washington Post.

“ICE needs a culture of accountability that it has been starved of for the past four years. We have a President, DHS secretary, and American people who rightfully demand results, and our ICE leadership will ensure the agency delivers,” said DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in a statement.

The restructuring at ICE occurs as the president and senior immigration officials express growing frustration with the current pace of arrests and deportations, compounded by the release of some migrants due to insufficient detention capacity. Although ICE has ramped up arrests in recent weeks, the Trump administration faces multiple hurdles as it seeks to swiftly meet the president's mass deportation promise—an extensive task that will require additional funding, time, and resources to implement.

“If you look at the rest of interior enforcement, it’s about three times higher than it was a year ago today. Three times higher is good, but I’m not satisfied. There are more criminal aliens that need to be arrested, hundreds of thousands,” stated Border Czar Tom Homan on Tuesday. He added, “Sanctuary cities are putting roadblocks up. We’ve got leaks. So we need to increase the arrests of illegal aliens, especially those with criminal convictions. So we’re going to continue.”

The administration has aggressively utilized media and social media platforms to announce enforcement actions by ICE, with White House accounts displaying images of detained migrants being loaded onto military aircraft and mugshots of those arrested. During the last week of January, ICE reported an average of more than 800 arrests per day, according to data shared on X. However, the agency has recently ceased publishing daily arrest figures.