A mass shakeup of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leadership is underway amid growing friction inside the\u00a0Department of Homeland Security\u00a0(DHS) over deportation tactics and priorities, according to four senior DHS officials.<\/p>\n
The overhaul affects ICE field offices in at least eight cities and will replace many senior leaders with Border Patrol officials, marking an unprecedented power shift inside DHS and exposing sharp divisions over how far to go in ramping up deportations, the officials told Fox News.<\/p>\n
The changes are being driven by competing camps inside DHS.<\/p>\n
On one side are Border Czar\u00a0Tom Homan\u00a0and ICE Director Todd Lyons, who have advocated focusing on criminal aliens and those with final deportation orders.<\/p>\n
On the other side are DHS Secretary\u00a0Kristi Noem, senior adviser Corey Lewandowski and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, who have pushed for a broader and more aggressive approach, targeting anyone in the US illegally to boost deportation numbers.<\/p>\n
White House \u2018border czar\u2019 Tom Homan walks to do a television interview outside of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on Oct. 16, 2025. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Two senior officials described the mood inside DHS as \u201ctense\u201d and \u201ccombative,\u201d with some ICE leaders warning the new approach could erode public support and blur the line between ICE and Border Patrol operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cICE started off with the worst of the worst, knowing every target they are hitting, but since Border Patrol came to LA in June, we\u2019ve lost our focus, going too hard, too fast, with limited prioritization,\u201d one senior DHS official told Fox. \u201cIt\u2019s getting numbers, but at what cost?\u201d<\/p>\n
Another senior official put it bluntly, \u201cICE is arresting criminal aliens. They [Border Patrol] are hitting Home Depots and car washes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wears an ICE vest during a briefing with law enforcement agents ahead of immigration raids in New York City. @Sec_Noem via REUTERS<\/p>\n
US federal agents detain a man during an immigration raid in the East Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois on Oct. 27, 2025. REUTERS<\/p>\n
Border Patrol agents\u00a0have defended the new strategy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did everyone think\u00a0mass deportations\u00a0meant? Only the worst?\u201d one agent told Fox News. \u201cTom Homan has said it himself \u2014 anyone in the US illegally is on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
The internal friction comes as deportation totals remain below targets set by the administration earlier this year. Officials told Fox News that the latest round of reassignments impacts ICE field chiefs in Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Portland, Philadelphia, El Paso and New Orleans \u2014 positions expected to be filled by Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials.<\/p>\n
A separate DHS official confirmed the personnel changes, describing them as \u201cperformance-based\u201d and designed \u201cto move people around for the best results.\u201d<\/p>\n
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement: \u201cWhile 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mass shakeup of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leadership is underway amid growing friction inside the\u00a0Department…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":338010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,2398,13045,5410,2399,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,5414,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-338009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-department-of-homeland-security","10":"tag-deportation","11":"tag-ice","12":"tag-kristi-noem","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-tom-homan","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-us-news","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115450931226173772","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}