The Trump administration is replacing the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) amid simmering from some officials about deportation numbers.
A Department of Homeland Security official confirmed that Caleb Vitello was being reassigned within the agency.
“He is no longer in an administrative role, but is overseeing all field and enforcement operations: finding, arresting, and deporting illegal aliens, which is a major priority of the President and the Secretary Noem,” the spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on Vitello’s ouster from his post.
President Trump and his deputies have made cracking down on immigration and ramping up deportations a major priority since taking office in January.
Trump has signed executive actions declaring a national emergency at the southern border, expanding who can be deported, sending some migrants to the Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba and getting the military involved in border-related operations.
DHS data showed that the Trump administration deported nearly 38,000 people during his first month in office, according to Reuters, down from the monthly average of 57,000 deportations during the final year of the Biden administration.
Trump administration officials have been repeatedly asked in recent weeks about whether they are satisfied with the rate of deportations.
Deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters on Thursday the administration was working to ramp up its efforts.
“I will promise you that … every element and instrument of national power will be used to remove, with speed, all criminal illegals from the soil of the United States of America, to enforce final removal orders, and to ensure that this country is for American citizens and those who legally belong in this country,” Miller said.
Source: The Hill
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