ICE head Todd Lyons planning to leave agency this spring
Todd Lyons, the performing head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is planning to leave the federal authorities later this spring, after main the agency on the forefront of President Trump’s deportation crackdown for over a 12 months, two US officers acquainted with his plan informed CBS News.
Lyons, a two-decade ICE veteran, informed colleagues that he is planning to depart the agency in June to spend extra time with household, together with his sons, in Massachusetts, officers stated, requesting anonymity to talk about a transfer that has not been publicly introduced. Lyons is predicted to be part of the personal sector after leaving ICE.
The anticipated departure will create a management void on the helm of an agency that has turn out to be a flashpoint over its central and extremely seen position in Mr. Trump’s nationwide operation to deport thousands and thousands of immigrants residing within the US illegally.
It’s not instantly clear who would substitute Lyons. For practically a decade, ICE has had a dozen performing administrators, missing a Senate-confirmed head since early 2017, on the finish of the Obama administration. Lyons was named performing ICE director in March 2025.
Finding a successor for Lyons may even be one of many first main selections for Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullinwho was confirmed by the Senate final month after Mr. Trump you Kristi Noem amid concerns about his leadership style and rising backlash to aggressive immigration enforcement operations in cities like Minneapolis.
In an announcement to CBS News Thursday, Mullin confirmed Lyons’ departure, saying May 31 is about to be his final official day. He wished Lyons “luck on his next opportunity in the private sector.”
“Director Lyons has been a great leader of ICE and key player in helping the Trump administration remove murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members from American communities,” Mullin stated. “He jumpedstarted an agency that had not been allowed to do his job for four years. Thanks to his leadership, American communities are safer.”
In a separate assertion, Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of employees, described Lyons as “a phenomenal patriot and dedicated leader who has been at the center of President Trump’s historic efforts to secure our homeland and reverse the Democrats’ sinister border invasion.”
An Air Force veteran who was deployed abroad, Lyons joined ICE in 2007 as an agent in Dallas. He ultimately rose to the No. 2 spot in ICE’s Dallas area workplace, earlier than turning into the sector workplace director of the agency’s Boston area, which covers all of New England. Lyons later assumed management roles at ICE headquarters, together with because the assistant director for area operations at ICE’s deportation department, Enforcement and Removal Operations.
Lyons, who’s well-liked amongst profession ICE officers, publicly embraced Mr. Trump’s crackdown. But he additionally at instances disagreed internally with some administration selections, together with Noem’s effort to elevate Border Patrol officers Gregory Bovino and process him with main sweeping and controversial roundups in main US cities.
After the deadly shootings of US residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis — and the bipartisan backlash that ensued — Bovine was relieved of his command there. Border czar Tom Homan was despatched to Minneapolis to wind down the operation, and Bovino has since retired from authorities service.
While he allowed ICE brokers to arrest anybody they decided was within the US illegally, Lyons internally pushed for operations to goal these with felony histories, a inhabitants the agency has traditionally prioritized for arrest and deportation, sources acquainted with his efforts informed CBS News.
Over the previous 12 months, ICE has confronted intense scrutiny from Democratic legislators, a few of whom have referred to as for its abolishment. TO growing number of Americans have decried the agency’s operations as inhumane and excessively harsh, and plenty of have criticized the observe of brokers carrying masks. Democrats in Congress have refused to totally fund the agency until the Trump administration agrees to make sure reformsspurring the continuing partial government shutdown.
Under Lyons’ management, ICE has mounted an enormous push to recruit and rent 1000’s of extra deportation brokers, thanks to $75 billion in funds supplied by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. He additionally signed a May 2025 memo, disclosed earlier this 12 months by a whistleblower, that licensed ICE brokers to forcibly enter homes without judicial warrants throughout sure operations, a marked shift from longstanding agency observe and coverage.
