The Trump administration is reassigning the acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid frustrations about the pace of mass deportations and leaks to the media about upcoming raids.
Acting ICE director Caleb Vitello is being removed from his post and reassigned to a role where he will oversee enforcement operations, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed to NR. Vitello’s move was first reported Friday by the Wall Street Journal.
“He is no longer in an Administrative role, but is instead overseeing all field and enforcement operations: finding, arresting, and deporting illegal aliens, which is a major priority of the President and Secretary Noem,” a DHS spokesperson told NR.
Vitello was previously the assistant director for the office of firearms and tactical programs at ICE. He has over 20 years of experience at ICE and won multiple awards for his work.
The Trump administration is expected to name a new acting ICE director in the coming days. A month into Trump’s term, the President himself and border czar Tom Homan have expressed frustration at the pace of Trump’s mass deportation program, a signature initiative of the 47th President.
“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,” Homan told NewsNation last week.
“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.”
Trump launched mass deportations on day one of his administration with a focus on illegal aliens with histories of violent crimes. ICE has been conducting raids nationwide, particularly in deep-blue cities, and publicizing its statistics on daily deportations and detainers.
The Trump administration has deputized IRS agents and Justice Department employees to assist with enforcing immigration law at the southern border, where crossings have plummeted since Trump took office. Noem also signed a memo Thursday deputizing 600 State Department officials to aid with immigration enforcement and deportations.
Seeking to combat leaks concerning future ICE operations, Noem warned employees that polygraph tests will be used to root out leakers who communicate with the media and nonprofits without authorization. Bloomberg Government first reported on Noem’s directive and DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin appeared to confirm the story in a subsequent social media post.
Homan has blamed the FBI for for leaking information about upcoming large scale raids and threatened to have individual agents jailed.