ICE leadership shakeup underway amid DHS friction over deportations

There’s a huge shake-up in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) management amid rising friction throughout the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) over deportation techniques and priorities, based on 4 senior DHS officers.

The overhaul will have an effect on ICE discipline places of work in at the least eight cities and can exchange many senior leaders with Border Patrol officers. This marks an unprecedented shift in energy inside DHS and exposes sharp divisions over how far to go in ramping up deportations, officers advised Fox Information.

The modifications are being pushed by competing camps inside DHS.

On one aspect are border czar Tom Homan and ICE Director Todd Lyons, who’ve argued for a give attention to prison aliens and people with closing deportation orders.

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Kristi Noem, Secretary of the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety, and “Border Czar” Tom Homan are pictured at a press convention on Monday, July 21, 2025, relating to a U.S. Customs and Border Safety officer who was shot in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/Getty Pictures)

On the opposite aspect are DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, senior adviser Corey Lewandowski and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, who’ve pushed for a broader and extra aggressive strategy, focusing on anybody within the U.S. illegally to extend deportation numbers.

Two senior officers described the temper inside DHS as “tense” and “combative,” with some ICE leaders warning that the brand new strategy may erode public help and blur the traces between ICE and Border Patrol operations.

“ICE began with the worst of the worst as a result of we knew each goal they have been hitting, however since Border Patrol got here to LA in June, we have now misplaced focus and moved too exhausting, too quick, with restricted priorities,” a senior DHS official advised Fox. ‘There shall be figures, however at what price?’

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A protester wearing an inflatable Capybara costume stands outdoors the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters in south Portland. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

One other senior official put it bluntly: “ICE is arresting prison aliens [Border Patrol] hitting House Depots and automotive washes.”

Border Patrol brokers have defended the brand new technique.

‘What did everybody suppose mass deportations meant? Solely the worst?’ an officer advised Fox Information. “Tom Homan stated it himself: everybody within the US is illegally on the desk.”

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USBP El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Greg Bovino speaks with federal brokers within the Cicero neighborhood throughout an immigration raid in Chicago. (Jim Vondruska/Reuters)

The interior friction comes as deportation totals stay beneath targets the federal government set earlier this yr. Officers advised Fox Information that the most recent spherical of reassignments will impression ICE discipline heads in Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Portland, Philadelphia, El Paso and New Orleans — positions anticipated to be crammed by Border Patrol and Customs and Border Safety (CBP) officers.

A separate DHS official confirmed the personnel modifications, describing them as “performance-based” and designed “to maneuver folks for one of the best outcomes.”

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DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin stated in an announcement: “Whereas we have now no personnel modifications to announce right now, the Trump Administration stays laser-focused on delivering outcomes and eradicating violent prison unlawful aliens from this nation.”