Two top officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency in charge of border security, have been relocated to other offices in the face of continued pressure from the Trump administration to increase arrests and deportations of illegal immigrants.
This was reported by Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin to the Washington Post, who said Russell Hott and Peter Berg were relocated to federal offices in Washington DC and St. Paul, Minnesota, respectively, but did not specify in what capacities.
“ICE needs a culture of accountability that it has been deprived of for the past four years. The President, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and the American people rightly demand results, and our leadership at ICE will ensure that the agency gets them,” reads the statement signed by McLaughlin.
Hott and Berg held roles at the top of White House executive order enforcement and illegal immigrant removal operations. Replacing them was interim chief Todd Lyons, who previously headed the Boston office.
From the first campaign rallies until inauguration day, Trump reiterated that he wanted to deport all illegal immigrants on U.S. soil—between 11 and 14 million people. Since entering the White House, the 47th president has signed executive orders facilitating ICE arrests, including hiring new agents.
Effectively, arrests have increased from 800 to 1,200 a day, but detention centers are overflowing, and ICE is beginning to suffer from the political pressure coming from Washington. Trump-appointed border czar Tom Homan said he is still not satisfied with the results, especially when, due to the lack of free spaces, some migrants have been released.
Hott and Berg’s situation is nothing new. In the first thirty days of the Trump administration, hundreds of federal officials were relocated or directly fired under the latest executive orders. Eight inspectors general, who oversee abuses and mismanagement in the federal system, have been removed from their posts on the spot.
Coming from the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, State, Agriculture, Education and Labor, and the Small Business Administration, objected and sued Trump for violating the Inspector General Act. The rule requires the President to remove officials from office only after notifying Congress at least 30 days in advance and providing valid reasons.
“The alleged firings violated unambiguous federal statutes, all of which were enacted by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by the president, that protect inspectors general from precisely this type of interference with the exercise of their critical, nonpartisan oversight functions,” the lawsuit reads.
The response from the White House is now awaited.
