Immigration and Customs Enforcement just underwent a massive shake-up — and it’s about time. As Fox News’ Bill Melugin detailed in a lengthy post on X, the Trump administration has finally lost patience with what many inside the president’s inner circle saw as a sluggish, bureaucratic approach to deportations.
The message now couldn’t be clearer: the days of endless excuses and half-measures are over.
If you broke our laws by sneaking into this country and you get caught, you’re going back — no debates, no delays, no apologies. After years of chaos under Biden, Americans finally have an administration that’s serious about enforcing the law and putting citizens first.
That’s exactly the mindset driving this overhaul — and the Trump team is making it crystal clear they want ICE officials who can get the job done, not slow-walk it. Naturally, that’s ruffled some feathers over at the Department of Homeland Security, where a few career bureaucrats aren’t thrilled about losing their cozy status quo.
Dozens of ICE officials have already been reassigned or shown the door, and their replacements are expected to come straight from the Border Patrol:
Per four senior DHS & Trump admin sources, a mass removal of ICE leadership around the country is underway, with up to 12 ICE field office chiefs being removed & reassigned in an effort to increase deportation numbers. I’m told the move is spearheaded by Corey Lewandowski, and a handful of the ICE Chiefs will likely be replaced by Border Patrol & CBP officials, some of whom will be hand-picked by aggressive & controversial Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino. I’m told some of the ICE leadership removed from their positions include the ICE Field Office Directors in:
– Los Angeles
– Phoenix
– Philadelphia
– Denver
– El Paso
– San Diego
– Seattle/Portland
– New Orleans
Border Patrol officials taking over ICE leadership positions would be extremely significant, as Border Patrol and ICE do different things, and I’ve done numerous ride-alongs/embeds with both.
Generally speaking, ICE typically conducts very targeted operations, largely going after criminal illegal aliens or those with deportation orders, but almost always knowing who they are targeting for arrest, often conducting surveillance to learn their schedules before and waiting hours before arresting them if needed.
Border Patrol, under Trump 2.0, while sometimes doing their own targeted operations, has been extremely aggressive and has been at the forefront of some of the most controversial immigration enforcement operations we’ve seen so far, carrying out roving patrols in Los Angeles, Chicago, etc, often at Home Depot, car washes, flea markets etc, leading to a handful of federal judges around the country issuing injunctions against them. A majority of the viral videos you see online are Border Patrol agents, including the use of a Trojan horse style Penske moving truck at a Los Angeles Home Depot, an operation organized by Bovino.
ICE often gets blamed for what Border Patrol does, as the media and activists often cannot tell the difference between federal agents, and everyone is called “ICE”. I’m told there are growing concerns about the political and PR fallout associated with some of the roving patrols Border Patrol is conducting as lawsuits continue to stack up and mid-terms approach next year.
I’m told there is significant friction within different wings of DHS and the administration, with Border Czar Tom Homan & ICE Director Todd Lyons preferring to prioritize targeting criminal aliens & the “worst of the worst” or those with deportation orders, while DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, and BP Commander Bovino prefer to use aggressive tactics to arrest anyone in the US illegally, including but not limited to criminals, to ramp up deportation numbers and achieve President Trump’s promises of mass deportations.
I am hearing from both sides of this friction.
“Just spoke to another senior Trump administration official who tells me there was a widespread review of ICE leadership after the One Big Beautiful Bill passed with a massive infusion of money and these decisions were based off who can execute the mass deportation agenda the best with more staff & more money,” added Melugin.
Revamped ICE and DHS for mass deportations? Oh, yeah. I’m all in for that. Let’s go.
