Trump administration moves to replace ICE leaders amid deportation disputes: Reports

NBC News reported on Monday that the administration “is planning to replace some regional leaders” at ICE with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials, while Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin said US social media company X that the shake-up is already “underway.”

Two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials told NBC that the White House has grown increasingly satisfied with CBP’s aggressive enforcement tactics, citing examples such as agents “rappelling into apartment buildings from Black Hawk helicopters and jumping out of rental trucks in Home Depot parking lots.”

“The mentality is CBP does what they’re told, and the administration thinks ICE isn’t getting the job done,” one DHS official said. “So CBP will do it.”

Melugin reported that ICE field office directors in at least eight major cities — including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and New Orleans — are being replaced. He said there is “significant friction in Homeland Security as to how to best to achieve more deportations.”

A Border Patrol agent quoted by Melugin defended the tougher approach: “What did everyone think mass deportations meant? Only the worst? (US border czar) Tom Homan has said it himself, anyone in the US illegally is on the table.”

Both outlets noted that DHS special employee Corey Lewandowski, a close ally of Secretary Kristi Noem, is helping lead the effort.

The New York Times previously reported on Friday that major leadership changes at ICE were being prepared.