Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, who oversaw the agency during tumultuous immigration crackdowns, is leaving his post next month, the head of the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday.
“Thanks to his leadership, American communities are safer,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. “We wish him luck on his next opportunity in the private sector.”
Lyons’ last day will be May 31, Mullin said. He did not say why Lyons is leaving.
Lyons has been the acting head during ICE’s controversial mass immigration crackdowns that targeted Democratic-run cities during the Trump administration.
The crackdowns generated outrage and furious protests in the cities where they were conducted, and federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis this year.
President Donald Trump appointed Lyons acting director in March 2025, succeeding Caleb Vitello, who was reassigned. He appointed Mullin, a U.S. senator from Oklahoma and political ally, last month after he fired Kristi Noem. The Senate confirmed Mullin on March 23.
Trump promised large-scale deportations of people in the country illegally during his presidential campaign, but the mass crackdowns angered some who said agents were sweeping up long-standing residents rather than violent criminals.
At a congressional hearing in February, Lyons said ICE made 379,000 arrests during the first year of the Trump administration and removed over 475,000 people from the U.S.
Lyons declined at the hearing to apologize for the fatal shootings of the two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were killed in separate incidents in Minneapolis in January.
White House border czar Tom Homan said Thursday that under Lyons’ leadership, “ICE achieved a record number of removals in the first year of this Administration, despite unprecedented challenges.”
“I commend him for a distinguished law enforcement career and the countless contributions he has made to protect our country and advance its interests,” Homan said in an emailed statement.
White House adviser Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner, said in a statement: “Todd is 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.”
Mullin did not say in his statement who will lead ICE.
