Donald Trump’s top immigration official has been dismissed for not arresting a sufficient number of undocumented immigrants. Caleb Vitello, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was reassigned on Friday. A senior Trump official said that the move came amid lower-than-expected deportation numbers.
A replacement for the ICE director has not yet been named. However, sources said that a new name will be announced this week. Vitello, a 23-year veteran of ICE, was assigned by President Trump last December to temporarily lead the agency. Serving in an acting capacity, he faced mounting pressure to step up enforcement, especially after several senior ICE officials were reassigned last week.
Paying Price for His Underperformance
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The decision was reportedly driven by frustration within the Trump administration over the pace of deportations. According to the Department of Homeland Security, Vitello will remain with ICE but in a different role.
A spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that Vitello was “actually being promoted” and would no longer hold an administrative role.
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Instead, he will now be responsible for overseeing all field and enforcement operations, including locating, arresting, and deporting undocumented immigrants.
Vitello, a longtime career official, previously worked with Trump during his first term. He is the third high-ranking ICE official to be removed this month.
Deportation officers have been given quotas to arrest 1,500 undocumented migrants per day, with each field office expected to carry out at least 75 arrests, The Wall Street Journal reported.
However, arrests have fallen short of these targets during Trump’s initial weeks back in office.
Trump won back the presidency after vowing to implement a broad immigration crackdown. His administration has already begun introducing various measures to intensify enforcement efforts in the coming months.
Trump Trying to Keep His Promise
According to a senior Trump official, plans are in place to replace Vitello with Madison Sheahan, the current secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Sheahan previously collaborated with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during Noem’s tenure as governor of South Dakota.
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Noem now serves as Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Trump deported 37,660 people during his first month in office.
This figure falls well below the monthly average of 57,000 removals and returns recorded in the final full year of Joe Biden’s administration.
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A senior Trump administration official said that deportation numbers are expected to increase in the coming months as the president expands efforts to accelerate arrests and removals.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin suggested that the higher deportation figures under Biden were “artificially inflated” due to elevated levels of illegal immigration.
Trump campaigned on a promise to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, aiming to expel millions of undocumented immigrants. However, early data indicates he may face challenges in surpassing the deportation rates seen during Biden’s last full year in office.
