Trump administration plans shakeup at ICE amid frustration over lagging immigration arrests
By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN
(CNN) — The Trump administration is planning another shakeup at Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid frustrations over lagging immigration arrests, according to four sources familiar with the discussions.
The White House set a lofty goal of 3,000 daily arrests earlier this year—a high bar for an agency that’s historically been strained for resources and personnel. And despite ramping up arrests, ICE has largely fallen short of that goal.
That’s fueled tensions between the White House and ICE. Planning has been underway to reassign at least a dozen directors of ICE offices nationwide who senior officials believe are underperforming, the sources said. ICE has 25 field offices.
“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,” said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in a statement.
Since receiving its mass deportation edict after President Donald Trump took office in January, ICE has fielded criticism from people inside the administration who think they aren’t doing enough, lawmakers and advocates who think they are doing too much, and an incensed public that in some cases is taking drastic action to impede immigration enforcement.
To bolster immigration arrests, DHS tapped US Border Patrol agents to fan out across the country. They’ve have been involved in high-profile confrontations with protesters and at the center of some of the administration’s most controversial and aggressive enforcement actions.
Part of the discussions have involved replacing heads of certain ICE field offices with Border Patrol officials, the sources said, stressing that plans have not been finalized.
At the helm of the immigration crackdown in Democratic-led cities is Gregory Bovino, who holds the title of chief patrol agent of the El Centro sector and has been the lead on the administration’s crackdown in cities — now, in Chicago.
Leadership at the Department of Homeland Security and the White House have touted the work of Bovino and the Border Patrol publicly and privately. There are more than 1,500 Border Patrol agents assisting ICE with immigration enforcement in the interior of the US.
But while ICE and CBP both fall under the Department of Homeland Security and are involved in immigration enforcement, they also execute different functions, raising concerns about potentially replacing some ICE leadership with Border Patrol officials.
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