Donald Trump’s presidential administration has reassigned its top official at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) after the agency’s arrests and deportations have been slower than expected, Reuters reported, citing a senior administration official and two other sources familiar with the matter.
The official, Caleb Vitello, was in the role in an acting capacity and had been grappling with pressure to step up enforcement after other top Ice officials were reassigned days earlier.
According to a spokeswoman for the homeland security department who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, Vitello is “actually being elevated so he is no longer in an administrative role, but is overseeing all field and enforcement operations: finding, arresting, and deporting illegal aliens”.
The outlet went on to report that Vitello will remain at Ice and lead the office that is responsible for arrests and deportations.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, one Trump administration official said that the White House is expected to announce a new acting director. Another administration official told the outlet that the Ice team was going to be expanded.
Vitello was hand-picked by Trump last December and has 23 years of experience with Ice.
In a statement on Truth Social explaining his pick, Trump said: “A member of the Senior Executive Service, with over 23 years of service to [Ice], Caleb currently serves as Assistant Director of the Office of Firearms and Tactical Programs, where he oversees Agency-wide training, equipment, and policy to ensure Officer and Public Safety.”
Trump added: “Caleb’s exceptional leadership, extensive experience, and commitment to [Ice]’s mission make him an excellent choice to implement my efforts to enhance the safety and security of American communities who have been victimized by illegal alien crime.”
The latest reshuffling follows the recent reassignment of Russell Hott and Peter Berg at Ice due to frustrations from the Trump administration over the rate of deportations and arrest numbers.
Speaking to the Washington Post which first reported the reassignments of Hott and Berg, a DHS spokesperson said: “Ice needs a culture of accountability that it has been starved of for the past four years. We have a president, DHS secretary, and American people who rightfully demand results, and our Ice leadership will ensure the agency delivers.”
According to the outlet, Hott was reassigned to Ice’s local office in Washington while Berg was reassigned to the office in St Paul, Minnesota.
Since Trump’s return to the presidency on 20 January, immigration officials have been arresting 826 people daily. At that rate, Trump’s administration would make nearly 25,000 immigration-related arrests in the first 30 days of his second presidency, more than any other month in the past 11 years, which included his first presidency from 2017 to 2021.
