In an effort to further ratchet up its already brutal and indiscriminate mass deportation campaign, the Trump administration has begun a sweeping purge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership across US cities. The agency's leaders are expected to be replaced with even more aggressive officials from the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection.
In what was dubbed a "midnight massacre," the Washington Examiner reported that over the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) quietly relieved the ICE field office directors in five US cities—Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and San Diego—of their duties.
It is expected to be just the beginning of a broader overhaul, carried out "in hopes of netting more arrests and ratcheting up its flashy, high-profile deportation campaign." Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin later reported that up to 12 of the agency's 24 regional directors may be replaced, including those in El Paso, Seattle, Portland, and New Orleans.
The replacements are expected to come from the ranks of the US Border Patrol, which—to an even greater extent than ICE—has carried out indiscriminate mass arrests of immigrants, regardless of whether they have criminal records.
Many of the replacements are expected to be handpicked by Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander currently leading President Donald Trump's "Operation Midway Blitz" in Chicago, where he's faced widespread criticism for his ruthless tactics against protesters and for his apparent authorization of explicit racial profiling when carrying out arrests.
Under his watch, federal immigration enforcement carried out the infamous overnight raid on a South Shore apartment building earlier this month in which agents rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters and indiscriminately broke down residents’ doors, smashed furniture and belongings, and dragged dozens of them, including children, into U-Haul vans, where some were detained for hours.
"Border Patrol and ICE are different agencies, with different duties and different leadership and different styles," explained Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. "Border Patrol are the aggro cowboys compared to ICE. Now they're going to be the ones running the show."
The sweeping purge reportedly comes amid a rift within the Trump administration over the scale and speed of its mass deportation crusade. The White House has repeatedly claimed it is targeting the “worst of the worst” criminals, but its immigration enforcement operation is predominantly targeting immigrants with no criminal history.
In May, senior Trump advisor Stephen Miller reportedly berated ICE leaders for not executing deportations swiftly enough and ordered a quota of 3,000 arrests per day.
As The Examiner notes, "those high figures have been impossible to achieve as ICE has simultaneously focused on arresting the 'worst of the worst,' often a one-by-one process." As of late September, NBC News reports that ICE was arresting 1,178 people on average per day, well short of Miller's goal.
Melugin reports that "there is significant friction within different wings of DHS and the administration, with Border Czar Tom Homan and ICE Director Todd Lyons preferring to prioritize targeting criminal aliens and the 'worst of the worst' or those with deportation orders, while DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, [chief DHS adviser] Corey Lewandowski, and [Border Patrol] commander Bovino prefer to use aggressive tactics to arrest anyone in the US illegally, including but not limited to criminals, to ramp up deportation numbers and achieve President Trump's promises of mass deportations."
Already, most of those being detained are not criminals: According to immigration data from late September, nearly 72% of current ICE and CBP detainees have not been convicted of a crime. Earlier data from the libertarian Cato Institute indicated that most of those with criminal records committed only minor offenses rather than violent crimes. The increased role of the Border Patrol signals a shift toward even more sweeping and indiscriminate operations.
As Melugin explains: "Border Patrol, under Trump 2.0, while sometimes doing their own targeted operations, has been extremely aggressive and has been at the forefront of some of the most controversial immigration enforcement operations we've seen so far, carrying out roving patrols in Los Angeles, Chicago, etc, often at Home Depot, car washes, flea markets, etc, leading to a handful of federal judges around the country issuing injunctions against them."
Bovino is expected to testify on Tuesday before a federal judge over his use of tear gas against peaceful protesters in a Chicago neighborhood in apparent violation of a court order. However, he has signaled he may refuse to show up to court, saying, “I take my orders from the executive branch."
DHS officials informed NBC that Bovino and Lewandowski personally compiled the list of ICE officials to be removed, but Miller is closely guarding it within the White House. Although the names have not been released, it is anticipated that those targeted for firing or reassignment will be officials with low arrest numbers and those who have opposed the harsher tactics favored by Miller and Border Patrol leaders.
"The old guard, which prioritized targeted enforcement operations aimed at people with criminal records, is being replaced with Border Patrol and Greg Bovino's 'Midway Blitz' style," said Reichlin-Melnick. "Think things are bad now? It'll get worse."
