The Trump administration has reassigned the top Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in five U.S. cities due to an insufficient number of deportations.
The personnel moves last Friday, which the Washington Examiner first reported, affected ICE leaders in Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Diego. In some cities, those positions will be filled by senior Border Patrol agents, according to the report. Those five changes won’t be the last, three officials told the outlet.
“It’s a lot more,” a person familiar with the rationale behind the reshuffle said.
The Department of Homeland Security, the report states, was going to fire the five ICE leaders—Denver Field Office Director Robert Guadian, San Diego Field Office Director Patrick Divver, Phoenix Field Office Director John Cantu, Los Angeles Field Office Director Ernesto Santacruz and Philadelphia’s acting Field Office Director Brian McShane—until acting ICE Director Todd Lyons objected.
“The administration wanted all these guys fired and Todd stepped in and said, ‘Let’s move them all to headquarters,’” a second official told the outlet.
“I personally think this is being pushed by Noem and [DHS senior adviser Corey Lewandowski] because they don’t like [White House border czar Tom Homan]. I think Tom would have said, ‘No way,’” this person added.
According to NBC News, Lewandowski, 52, helped compile a list of at least 12 ICE leaders to be reassigned.
“The mentality is CBP does what they’re told, and the administration thinks ICE isn’t getting the job done,” a DHS official told NBC. “So CBP will do it.”
When reached for comment, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Beast: “While we have no personnel changes to announce at this time, the Trump administration remains laser focused on delivering results and removing violent criminal illegal aliens from this country.”
White House Spokesperson Abigail Jackson told the Daily Beast: “The President’s entire team is working in lockstep to implement the President’s policy agenda, and the tremendous results from securing the border to deporting criminal illegal aliens speak for themselves.”
The Daily Beast has also reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.
This is one team, one fight. President Trump has a brilliant, tenacious team led by @Sec_Noem to deliver on the American people’s mandate to remove criminal illegal aliens from this country.@StephenM @RealTomHoman @ICEDirector @CMDROpAtLargeCA @CLewandowski_ @ICEDeputy are… https://t.co/S9KlXkscXM
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) October 28, 2025
Lyons did not respond to the Examiner’s request for comment.
The second official further explained to the Examiner that the administration is looking for more Border Patrol leaders like Gregory Bovino. The chief patrol agent for the El Centro, California, region, Bovino has also been helping ICE operations in Chicago and Portland.
In Chicago, Bovino has been ordered to appear in federal court on Tuesday over his alleged use of tear gas—something that a federal judge barred unless officers faced an immediate threat. DHS claimed Bovino had been hit with a rock.
Bovino, according to NBC News, worked with Lewandowski on the list, which comes as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s goal of 3,000 deportations a day hasn’t been met. Since this summer, ICE usually arrests more than 1,000 people daily, according to The New York Times.
One senior DHS official told Fox News:
“ICE started with the worst of the worst, knowing every target they are hitting. But since Border Patrol started in L.A. in June, we’ve lost our focus [at DHS], going too hard, too fast, with limited prioritization. It’s getting numbers, but at what cost?”
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