Todd Lyons, the performing head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is planning to leave the federal authorities later this spring, after main the agency on the forefront of President Trump’s deportation crackdown for over a 12 months, two U.S. officers conversant in his plan instructed CBS News.
Lyons, a two-decade ICE veteran, instructed colleagues that he is planning to depart the agency in June to spend extra time with household, together with his sons, in Massachusetts, the officers mentioned, requesting anonymity to focus on a transfer that has not been publicly introduced. Lyons is predicted to be a part of the personal sector after leaving ICE.
The anticipated departure will create a management void on the helm of an agency that has grow to be a flashpoint over its central and extremely seen position in Mr. Trump’s nationwide operation to deport tens of millions of immigrants dwelling within the U.S. illegally.
It’s not instantly clear who would change Lyons. For almost a decade, ICE has had a dozen performing administrators, missing a Senate-confirmed head since early 2017, on the finish of the Obama administration. Lyons was named performing ICE director in March 2025.
Finding a successor for Lyons may also be one of many first main choices for Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who was confirmed by the Senate final month after Mr. Trump ousted Kristi Noem amid concerns about her leadership style and rising backlash to aggressive immigration enforcement operations in cities like Minneapolis.
In a press release to CBS News Thursday, Mullin confirmed Lyons’ departure, saying May 31 is ready to be his final official day. He wished Lyons “luck on his next opportunity in the private sector.”
“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,” Mullin mentioned. “He jumpstarted an agency that had not been allowed to do its job for four years. Thanks to his leadership, American communities are safer.”
In a separate assertion, Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of workers, described Lyons as “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.”
An Air Force veteran who was deployed abroad, Lyons joined ICE in 2007 as an agent in Dallas. He finally rose to the No. 2 spot in ICE’s Dallas discipline workplace, earlier than turning into the sphere workplace director of the agency’s Boston area, which covers all of New England. Lyons later assumed management roles at ICE headquarters, together with because the assistant director for discipline operations at ICE’s deportation department, Enforcement and Removal Operations.
Lyons, who’s well-liked amongst profession ICE officers, publicly embraced Mr. Trump’s crackdown. But he additionally at instances disagreed internally with some administration choices, together with Noem’s effort to elevate Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino and activity him with main sweeping and controversial roundups in main U.S. cities.
After the deadly shootings of U.S. residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis — and the bipartisan backlash that ensued — Bovino was relieved of his command there. Border czar Tom Homan was despatched to Minneapolis to wind down the operation, and Bovino has since retired from authorities service.
While he allowed ICE brokers to arrest anybody they decided was within the U.S. illegally, Lyons internally pushed for operations to goal these with legal histories, a inhabitants the agency has traditionally prioritized for arrest and deportation, sources conversant in his efforts instructed CBS News.
Over the previous 12 months, ICE has confronted intense scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers, a few of whom have referred to as for its abolishment. A growing number of Americans have decried the agency’s operations as inhumane and excessively harsh, and plenty of have criticized the follow of brokers carrying masks. Democrats in Congress have refused to absolutely fund the agency except the Trump administration agrees to make sure reforms, spurring the continued partial government shutdown.
Under Lyons’ management, ICE has mounted a large push to recruit and rent hundreds of extra deportation brokers, thanks to $75 billion in funds offered by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. He additionally signed a May 2025 memo, disclosed earlier this 12 months by a whistleblower, that approved ICE brokers to forcibly enter homes without judicial warrants throughout sure operations, a marked shift from longstanding agency follow and coverage.
