Trump Admin Cleans House At ICE, Replaces Field Bosses With Border Patrol Veterans

The Trump administration began sweeping out Immigration and Customs Enforcement field chiefs across the country, reassigning many and moving Border Patrol veterans into top jobs to juice arrests.

Nearly half of ICE’s 25 field office directors are being shifted, with replacements drawn from elsewhere in DHS — including the Border Patrol, which has already been embedded in ICE operations in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago, the Associated Press reported. The Washington Examiner first identified five cities — Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Diego — where leaders were removed and reassigned Friday, with more changes expected. (RELATED: ‘Bad Hombres’: Jessica Tarlov Admits NYC Anti-ICE Protesters Were In The Wrong)

“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,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News.

The shake-up is the third major overhaul of ICE leadership this year amid White House pressure to hit aggressive deportation targets. Axios has documented earlier ousters of top ICE brass after aides set a 3,000-per-day arrests goal; the moves extend that push by installing Border Patrol leaders long associated with faster, more sweeping operations.

Fox News, citing senior DHS officials, reported the latest round touches at least eight offices and represents an “unprecedented power shift” inside the department. Officials described internal friction over priorities — with some pushing broader arrests to lift numbers and others arguing for a tighter focus on criminals and final-order cases — even as field bosses are replaced and reassigned.

The Examiner named the removed field directors in several cities and said acting ICE Director Todd Lyons argued against firing them outright, leading to reassignments instead. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has final say on personnel moves, and more swaps are expected as the administration leans further into its deportation drive.

The department has touted mass removals throughout Trump’s second term, most recently claiming more than 2 million people are “out of the United States” within 250 days.