Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons is leaving the Department of Homeland Security, the new head of the DHS said Thursday.
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“Thanks to his leadership, American communities are safer,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. “We wish him luck on his next opportunity in the private sector.”
Lyons’ last day will be May 31, Mullin said.
Mullin did not state a reason for Lyons’ departure in his statement.
Lyons has been the acting head of ICE during the agency’s controversial mass immigration crackdowns that targeted Democratic-run cities under the Trump administration.
The crackdowns generated furious protests, and two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Trump appointed Lyons as acting director of the agency in March of 2025, succeeding Caleb Vitello who was reassigned.
President Donald Trump appointed Mullin, a U.S. senator and political ally, in March after firing Kristi Noem from the role. Mullin was confirmed by the Senate on March 23.
Trump promised large-scale deportations of people in the country illegally during his presidential campaign, but the mass crackdowns angered some who said agents were sweeping up longstanding residents rather than violent criminals.
At a congressional hearing in February, Lyons said ICE made 379,000 arrests during the first year of the Trump administration and removed over 475,000 people from the U.S.
Lyons at that hearing declined to apologize for the fatal shootings of the two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis. They were killed in separate incidents in January.
White House border czar Tom Homan said Thursday that under Lyons’ leadership “ICE achieved a record number of removals in the first year of this Administration, despite unprecedented challenges.”
“I commend him for a distinguished law enforcement career and the countless contributions he has made to protect our country and advance its interests,” Homan said.
White House adviser Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, said in a statement that: “Todd is 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.”
Who will now head ICE was not announced in Mullin’s statement Thursday.
