Acting ICE director demoted as Trump admin remains unsatisfied with pace of migrant arrests
Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Caleb Vitello was reassigned Friday in the latest staffing shake-up at the agency tasked with arresting and deporting criminal illegal immigrants.
Vitello will now oversee “all field and enforcement operations,” including “finding, arresting, and deporting illegal aliens,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Politico.
A new ICE chief has not been named.
Vitello, a 23 year veteran of ICE, was tasked by President Trump last December to lead the agency on an interim basis.
His demotion comes a week after the Trump administration moved two other top ICE officials to local field offices.
The officials, Russell Hott and Peter Berg, were cut from ICE’s enforcement division amid increasing pressure from the Trump administration to ramp up migrant arrests and deportations, according to the Washington Post.
“We have a president, DHS secretary, and American people who rightfully demand results, and our ICE leadership will ensure the agency delivers,” a DHS spokesperson said at the time.
The pace of ICE arrests has slowed after an initial jump in the first few weeks of the Trump administration, according to Politico.
Trump, 78, has expressed “anger” in recent weeks that more people are not being deported by ICE, according to NBC News.
Border czar Tom Homan has also said that he is “not satisfied” with how the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is going.
“If you look at the rest of interior enforcement, it’s about three times higher than it was a year ago today,” Homan told reporters at the White House last week. “Three times higher is good, but I’m not satisfied.”
“There are more criminal aliens that need to be arrested, hundreds of thousands,” he added, noting that “sanctuary cities are putting roadblocks up” and that there have been “leaks” within the government about planned ICE raids.
DHS and ICE did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
