A decision on who President-elect Trump will nominate to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is expected in the coming days, sources familiar with the process told Fox News Digital. Next, we are looking ahead to the possibility of significant opposition to mass deportations from some Democratic states. year.
Discussions are taking place this week at Mar-a-Lago, and a decision could be made as early as Friday. Whoever is nominated will need Senate confirmation.
It is unclear who is running. A source said Thursday that multiple candidates are still being discussed and the Trump team has not yet narrowed down the list.
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Former President Donald Trump, then Republican presidential candidate, speaks at a campaign event in Mint Hill, North Carolina, Wednesday, September 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Officials have previously suggested that former ICE field officer John Fabricatore and Todd Lyons, who currently heads the agency's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) unit in Boston, are among the top candidates. The transition team is understood to be looking for someone with a deep law enforcement background to lead a law enforcement agency.
However, Mr Fabricatore is now understood to be out of the running to lead the agency. Lyons is highly regarded by many within the agency and on the transition team, given his leadership of the Boston unit and the team's work in tracking criminal illegal immigrants released from sanctuary custody. It is considered. city.
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ICE agents monitor hundreds of asylum seekers as they enter the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York City on June 6, 2023. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
Whoever leads the agency will likely garner media and political attention in the coming year as it spearheads a historic mass deportation operation promised by President-elect Trump.
President Trump has appointed former ICE Director Thomas Homan as “border czar,” and he is expected to play a leading role in efforts to secure the border and launch a mass deportation operation. . He also announced that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem will be a candidate for secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
Transition teams are already eyeing a significant expansion in capacity, including adding more beds and expanding capacity near metropolitan areas to facilitate operations.
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These efforts have already drawn significant opposition from Democratic officials in some states. The governors of Illinois, Arizona and Massachusetts said they would not cooperate with the administration's operation. But some Republican states have offered to help, with Texas offering more than 1,400 acres of land for mass deportations near the border.
