A power shift is taking place within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as President Donald Trump’s administration continues focusing on deporting illegals.
Four senior DHS officials told Fox News the changes will affect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field offices in several cities, the outlet reported Monday, noting some senior leaders will be replaced with U.S. Border Patrol officials.
The news comes as leaders work to continue increasing deportation numbers.
“On one side are Border Czar Tom Homan and ICE Director Todd Lyons, who have advocated focusing on criminal aliens and those with final deportation orders,” the Fox article said. “On the other side are DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, senior adviser Corey Lewandowski and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, who have pushed for a broader and more aggressive approach, targeting anyone in the U.S. illegally to boost deportation numbers.”
In September, Homan said nearly 1.6 million illegals had already self-deported, Breitbart News reported.
He added, “A lot of people aren’t coming, which helps to secure that border. And that was a part of the strategy from the beginning: We said, ‘If we show consequences, we show them we’re actually out there looking for them, many will leave.’”
In a social media post on Monday, Fox News’s Bill Melugin reported, “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.”
He added:
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.
Meanwhile, Washington Examiner reporter Anna Giaritelli said Monday, “ICE’s top officials in Denver; Los Angeles; Philadelphia; Phoenix; and San Diego were quietly relieved of their duties last Friday. Sources tell me it was directed from the top of the Trump admin/DHS.”
Giaritelli also reported:
The Trump administration wants to remake ICE with Border Patrol’s more in-your-face, aggressive style. We’ve seen Greg Bovino, the El Centro, CA chief help with illegal immigrant arrests in some cities since June. He very much has the Trump admin’s approval and Trump world wants more of that.
But bringing in Border Patrol to overhaul entire ICE operations across San Diego, Los Angeles, Denver, Philadelphia, and Phoenix is very much outside the norm. Both are federal law enfacement agencies that deal with immigration but in very different ways. Border Patrol is on the border, ICE is in the interior mostly.
Breitbart News reported October 20 that DHS had arrested nearly half a million illegals in the past nine months, and ICE agents have continued rounding up convicted killers, sex offenders, and robbers across the United States.
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