BREAKING: Trump Admin Begins MAJOR Overhaul of ICE Leadership Across the Nation

A big shakeup is happening at ICE offices across the nation.

In an effort to bolster deportations, the Trump administration is swapping out ICE leadership at around half of the country’s field offices with Border Patrol officials.

In most cases, the current ICE directors will not be fired, but will be reassigned to other roles.

Bill Melugin of Fox News provided in-depth information on what’s going on:

BREAKING: Per four senior DHS & Trump admin sources, a mass removal of ICE leadership around the country is underway, with up to 12 ICE field office chiefs being removed & reassigned in an effort to increase deportation numbers. I’m told the move is spearheaded by Corey Lewandowski, and a handful of the ICE Chiefs will likely be replaced by Border Patrol & CBP officials, some of whom will be hand-picked by aggressive & controversial Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino. I’m told some of the ICE leadership removed from their positions include the ICE Field Office Directors in:

– Los Angeles
– Phoenix
– Philadelphia
– Denver
– El Paso
– San Diego
– Seattle/Portland
– New Orleans

Border Patrol officials taking over ICE leadership positions would be extremely significant, as Border Patrol and ICE do different things, and I’ve done numerous ride-alongs/embeds with both.

Generally speaking, ICE typically conducts very targeted operations, largely going after criminal illegal aliens or those with deportation orders, but almost always knowing who they are targeting for arrest, often conducting surveillance to learn their schedules before and waiting hours before arresting them if needed.

Border Patrol, under Trump 2.0, while sometimes doing their own targeted operations, has been extremely aggressive and has been at the forefront of some of the most controversial immigration enforcement operations we’ve seen so far, carrying out roving patrols in Los Angeles, Chicago, etc, often at Home Depot, car washes, flea markets etc, leading to a handful of federal judges around the country issuing injunctions against them. A majority of the viral videos you see online are Border Patrol agents, including the use of a Trojan horse style Penske moving truck at a Los Angeles Home Depot, an operation organized by Bovino.

ICE often gets blamed for what Border Patrol does, as the media and activists often cannot tell the difference between federal agents, and everyone is called “ICE”. I’m told there are growing concerns about the political and PR fallout associated with some of the roving patrols Border Patrol is conducting as lawsuits continue to stack up and mid-terms approach next year.

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I’m told there is significant friction within different wings of DHS and the administration, with Border Czar Tom Homan & ICE Director Todd Lyons preferring to prioritize targeting criminal aliens & the “worst of the worst” or those with deportation orders, while DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, and BP Commander Bovino prefer to use aggressive tactics to arrest anyone in the US illegally, including but not limited to criminals, to ramp up deportation numbers and achieve President Trump’s promises of mass deportations.

I am hearing from both sides of this friction.

One senior DHS official tells me:

“ICE started with the worst of the worst, knowing every target they are hitting, but since Border Patrol started in LA in June, we’ve (DHS) lost our focus, going too hard, too fast, with limited prioritization. It’s getting numbers, but at what cost?”.

Border Patrol agents I’ve talked to defend their tactics, with one telling me:

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“What did everyone think mass deportations meant? Only the worst? Tom Homan has said it himself, anyone in the US illegally is on the table.”

It’s quite a situation, as both sides of this are on the same team, with the same end goals, but different perspectives on how to get there.

Another DHS official confirmed the personnel changes to me on deep background, adding that the moves are based on performance and doing what is needed to achieve the best results.

Official statement to @FoxNews
via @TriciaOhio
:

“While we have no personnel changes to announce at this time, the Trump Administration remains laser focused on delivering results and removing violent criminal illegal aliens from this country.”

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Reportedly, a purge of ICE leadership at five field offices began over the weekend.

The Washington Examiner has more:

The Trump administration has begun to purge Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in offices in five major U.S. cities and fill some of those top posts with senior Border Patrol agents who will take over interior immigration enforcement in those regions, according to five sources familiar with the plans.

ICE leaders in Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and San Diego were relieved of their jobs and moved to other posts within the federal agency last Friday, the Washington Examiner has learned.

Over the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security quietly started overhauling how it carries out its mass deportation operation in hopes of netting more arrests and ratcheting up its flashy, high-profile deportation campaign. The five cities are believed to be the first of more to come across ICE’s 24 field offices nationwide, according to three officials.

One official with firsthand knowledge of the plans, who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity, said the plan goes far beyond the five cities.

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“It’s a lot more,” the official said.

A total of five sources said the five field office directors had been relieved of their duties and sent to other parts of the country to work. The DHS had plotted to fire all five field office directors but relented amid pushback from acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, who pleaded that they not be terminated.

“The administration wanted all these guys fired and Todd stepped in and said, ‘Let’s move them all to headquarters,’” the second official said. Lyons did not respond to a request for comment.

According to some reports, there is some friction between the way that Border Patrol and ICE wants to handle deportations.

Recall that Stephen Miller has set daily deportation targets at 3,000 — but, while ICE has made tons of progress, most days they are not meeting that goal.

More from CBS News:

Internally, U.S. officials tell CBS News, some ICE leaders have been frustrated with Border Patrol’s operations in cities — and the opposition they have garnered from local residents. While the Trump administration has made anyone in the U.S. illegally who is encountered by federal officials subject to arrest, ICE says its operations have continued to primarily target immigrants who have committed crimes in addition to being in the country unlawfully.

“We’re arresting criminals, while they are going to Home Depots and car washes,” one U.S. official told CBS News, referring to Border Patrol agents.

Some inside the Trump administration, however, see Border Patrol officials as better equipped to carry out the aggressive and expansive operations needed to reach the ambitious arrest targets set by the White House.

In the spring, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, the architect of President Trump’s mass deportation plans, suggested on Fox News that ICE should be carrying out “a minimum” of 3,000 arrests per day. ICE officials have not met that target. While they have peaked above 2,000 on some days, arrests by the agency typically hover over 1,000 each day.

As of this week, ICE had carried out over 260,000 arrests under the second Trump administration, or an average of approximately 900 per day, according to internal agency data obtained by CBS News.

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In a statement, DHS Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin fought back against reports of internal friction, re-iterating that Border Patrol and ICE are on the same page here.

Read her post here:

This is one team, one fight. President Trump has a brilliant, tenacious team led by @Sec_Noem to deliver on the American people’s mandate to remove criminal illegal aliens from this country.

@StephenM
@RealTomHoman
@ICEDirector
@CMDROpAtLargeCA
@CLewandowski_
@ICEDeputy
are patriots who wake up every day to make this country and its people safer.

As we said, we have no personnel changes to announce right now but we remain laser focused on RESULTS and we will deliver.

Let’s go…

Deport them all!