#ice-leadership

#ice-leadership

Roughly 80% of career leadership at ICE has been fired or demoted under Noem's tenure, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation. The agency is under immense pressure to reach arrest and deportation goals. This includes the early demotion of the first acting agency director Caleb Vitello last February. Noem tried to replace Vitello with her political ally Madison Sheehan, who became deputy director before departing to run for Congress.

The current official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity, said 12 ICE field office directors - the officers who run the network of field offices around the country responsible for immigration enforcement - were being reassigned. Half are to be replaced by existing or retired Customs and Border Protection staff, while the other half would be replaced by ICE officers, both the current and former officials said.