Trump Replaces ICE Director Following Orders to Raise Deportation Numbers

The Trump administration has removed the acting Director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement from his position as officials urge the administration to ramp up deportations of undocumented immigrants.

Acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello was removed from his post as the administration attempts to reform ICE's leadership in alignment with President Trump's campaign promises regarding immigration, according to the Wall Street Journal.

However, 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," said a spokesperson for the administration.

Both Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan, have expressed frustrations that the number of immigrants being deported isn't higher, reported NBC News.

"If you look at the rest of interior enforcement, it's about three times higher than it was a year ago today. Three times higher is good, but I'm not satisfied. There are more criminal aliens that need to be arrested, hundreds of thousands," Border Czar Homan said earlier this month. "Sanctuary cities are putting roadblocks up. We've got leaks. So we need to increase the arrests of illegal aliens, especially those with criminal convictions. So we're going to continue."

"After four years of the Biden administration's outright incompetence and negligence, the Trump administration has re-established a no-nonsense enforcement of and respect for the immigration laws of the United States," Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement. "Hundreds of violent, predatory, and gang-affiliated criminal illegal aliens have already been rounded up and deported by ICE since President Trump took office — and the Trump administration is aligned on securing our borders and ensuring that mass deportations are conducted quickly and effectively to put Americans and America First."

Vitello, whose removal follows the removals of top ICE deportation officials Russell Hott and Peter Berg, was personally selected by Trump after having worked closely with immigration officials during Trump's first presidential term.

"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," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.