Trump Admin Launches Major Personnel Shake-Up At ICE
The Trump administration has begun a sweeping overhaul of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leadership in several major U.S. cities, a move aimed at strengthening the president’s interior enforcement strategy and accelerating the administration’s nationwide deportation campaign.
According to a report from the Washington Examiner, senior ICE field office leaders in Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and San Diego were reassigned to new posts last Friday as part of a broader internal shake-up at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Over the weekend, DHS began quietly restructuring its enforcement apparatus to align with President Donald J. Trump’s directive to intensify deportations and increase arrest numbers, while projecting a tougher public image in major sanctuary jurisdictions.
Officials familiar with the plan told the Examiner that the five-city reassignments mark only the first wave of a nationwide leadership reset across ICE’s 24 field offices. “It’s a lot more,” one official said, noting that additional removals are already being discussed at DHS headquarters.
Sources said DHS had initially considered terminating all five field office directors outright, but acting ICE Director Todd Lyons reportedly intervened, convincing DHS leadership to reassign rather than fire the officials.
“The administration wanted all these guys fired and Todd stepped in and said, ‘Let’s move them all to headquarters,’” another official told the outlet.
According to the report, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem holds final authority over all personnel decisions involving ICE and the Border Patrol. While DHS declined to comment on her direct role, some insiders believe the changes reflect Noem’s and senior adviser Corey Lewandowski’s push to realign ICE leadership with White House border czar Tom Homan’s enforcement priorities.
“The decision to replace top federal employees from one agency with employees from an entirely different agency is unprecedented,” the Examiner noted.
Among those being elevated to new roles are senior Border Patrol officials, who will now oversee ICE field operations in some regions — a historic shift that blurs traditional lines between border enforcement and interior immigration control.
One of those officials, Gregory Bovino, who commands the Border Patrol’s El Centro sector in California, has already become the public face of Trump’s renewed crackdown. Bovino gained national attention this summer for leading Border Patrol parades through downtown Chicago, confronting violent protesters, and coordinating aggressive arrest operations in sanctuary cities.
According to sources, Bovino’s leadership style is being held up within DHS as the new standard for ICE field operations — assertive, visible, and unrelenting.
The field directors reassigned in the latest round include Robert Guadian (Denver), Patrick Divver (San Diego), John Cantu (Phoenix), Ernesto Santacruz (Los Angeles), and Brian McShane (Philadelphia). None of the five responded to requests for comment.
In Philadelphia, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division will temporarily take over leadership duties, making it the only one of the five affected cities not to be managed by a Border Patrol appointee.
DHS, ICE, and Border Patrol have not yet made public announcements regarding the personnel changes.
Since returning to office, President Trump has emphasized restoring immigration law and order after years of chaos under the Biden administration. His new DHS team is projecting 600,000 deportations by January 2026, an ambitious target that underscores the administration’s determination to enforce U.S. sovereignty and dismantle sanctuary policies across the nation.
In May, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller reportedly directed ICE to aim for 3,000 arrests per day — a pace that could exceed one million annual arrests, marking one of the most aggressive immigration enforcement drives in modern American history.
The latest reshuffling within ICE signals that the Trump administration is not only tightening control over the border but also bringing the fight deep into America’s interior — where sanctuary city leaders have long sought to shield illegal immigrants from federal law.