Todd Lyons is to resign as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the Trump administration, bringing an end to his oversight of the law enforcement agency executing President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
His last day as ICE head will be May 31, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced late Thursday.
“Director Lyons has been a great leader of ICE and key player in helping the Trump administration remove murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists and gang members from American communities. He jumpstarted an agency that had not been allowed to do its job for four years,” Mullin said in a statement.
“We wish him luck on his next opportunity in the private sector.”
Appointed in March 2025, Lyons took over the agency at the forefront of Trump’s aggressive anti-immigration campaign after the White House reportedly grew dissatisfied with the pace of deportations under his predecessor, Caleb Vitello, who had only been in the job about a month.
At ICE’s helm, Lyons oversaw more than 475 000 removals and nearly 379 000 arrests during his first year, up from 271 484 removals and 113 431 arrests the year prior.
He also oversaw the immigration law enforcement agency during its unprecedented deployment to Democratic-led cities, which critics alleged was politically motivated retaliation against local politicians who resisted Trump’s hardline policies.
The Trump administration surged federal immigration agents into cities for raids and arrests, prompting protests. In Minneapolis, two citizens were fatally shot by federal immigration agents.
“Todd is an American patriot who made our country safer,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson said in a statement following the announcement of Lyons’ resignation.
“The American people are deeply appreciative for his service.”
During his tenure, he faced sharp — and escalating — criticism from Democrats for the aggressive tactics of his agents as well as for detaining American citizens and illegally deporting immigrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador without due process.
They also lashed out at tactics agents employed under his watch. In January, Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., demanded an explanation for Lyons’ authorization of federal immigration agents to enter homes without a judicial warrant to conduct immigration arrests.
More recently, Sentors. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., criticized Lyons and his former boss, Kristi Noem, who was removed as the Department of Homeland Security head in March, over barring congressional leaders from detention facilities at a time of spiking detention deaths.
During a congressional hearing in February, Democrats questioned Lyons over the controversial tactics of his agents. Representative Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., compared them to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
“People are simply making valid observations about your tactics, which are un-American and outright fascist,” he said.
“So, I have a simple suggestion: If you don’t want to be called a fascist regime or secret police, then stop acting like one.”
It was unclear who might succeed Lyons, a two-decade veteran of ICE, who joined the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in 2007. (UPI)
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