The acting director of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), the key agency in President Donald Trump’s immigration repression, will leave the federal government at the end of May, as announced by the North American administration this morning.
Todd Lyons’ last day in office will be the 31st of that month and, then, he will move to the private sector, according to Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, in a statement.
Human rights groups say Trump’s immigration crackdown, led by ICE (part of the Department of Homeland Security), has violated free speech and due process.
The fatal shooting by ICE of two US citizens in Minnesota – Alex Pretti and Renee Good – in January sparked nationwide protests, and human rights experts said the agency’s actions have created an unsafe environment, especially for minorities.
Trump maintains that the crackdown is necessary to improve national security and curb illegal immigration.
The Republican president already fired former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in early March and named Mullin as the new director of the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been closed for more than two months as lawmakers in Congress have failed to agree on legislation to fund the agency following Trump’s immigration crackdown.
On Thursday, Minnesota prosecutors charged an ICE agent with assault for allegedly pointing his gun at people in a car on a Minneapolis freeway in February.
Prosecutors said these were the first charges against an ICE agent for actions related to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year. The accused officer told state investigators that he “feared for his safety.”
Before being named acting director of ICE in March 2025, Lyons was the associate executive director of the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Directorate. In that role, he led efforts to arrest and deport migrants who entered the United States illegally, according to his official biography.
Lyons held other positions in the Directorate of Enforcement and Removal Operations, including deputy director of field operations and deputy assistant director of operations on the western and southwestern border, among others. He began his management career as an immigration agent in Dallas.
Changes in Emergencies
On the other hand, US media reported on Thursday night that Trump planned to appoint Cameron Hamilton to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is also part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Hamilton was removed from his position as acting FEMA director last year after apparently disagreeing with Trump and Noem over the agency’s future. FEMA has suffered significant staff cuts since Trump took office in January 2025. FEMA could not immediately be reached for comment.
