Overview
- Todd Lyons, the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will resign effective May 31, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced Thursday, and no successor has been named.
- Lyons is leaving for the private sector, and in messages reported by CNN and the New York Times he cited a desire to spend more time with his family.
- Under Lyons, ICE expanded operations after major funding increases, with testimony citing roughly 379,000 arrests and more than 475,000 removals in the first year of Trump’s second term.
- His tenure drew fierce scrutiny after federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January, as deaths in ICE custody climbed to record levels and a Minnesota prosecutor later charged an ICE agent with assault in a separate case.
- Lyons testified earlier Thursday at a House budget hearing on detention deaths, enforcement tactics, and a memo allowing warrantless home entries, and the leaderless agency now faces stalled DHS funding talks and continuing oversight.