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Todd Lyons, the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is planning to leave the federal government later this spring, after leading the agency at the forefront of President Trump’s deportation crackdown for over a year, two U.S. officials familiar with his plan told CBS News.
Lyons, a two-decade ICE veteran, told colleagues that he’s planning to depart the agency in June to spend more time with family, including his sons, in Massachusetts, the officials said, requesting anonymity to discuss a move that had not been publicly announced. Lyons is expected to join the private sector after leaving ICE.
The expected departure will create a leadership void at the helm of an agency that has become a flashpoint over its central and highly visible role in Mr. Trump’s nationwide operation to deport millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
It’s not immediately clear who would replace Lyons. For nearly a decade, ICE has had a dozen acting directors, lacking a Senate-confirmed head since early 2017, at the end of the Obama administration. Lyons was named acting ICE director in March 2025.
Finding a successor for Lyons will also be one of the first major decisions for Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who was confirmed by the Senate last month after Mr. Trump ousted Kristi Noem amid concerns about her leadership style and growing backlash to aggressive immigration enforcement operations in cities like Minneapolis.
In a statement to CBS News Thursday, Mullin confirmed Lyons’ departure, saying May 31 is set to be his last official day. He wished Lyons “luck on his next opportunity in the private sector.”
“Director Lyons has been a great leader of ICE and key player in helping the Trump administration remove murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members from American communities,” Mullin said. “He jumpstarted an agency that had not been allowed to do its job for four years. Thanks to his leadership, American communities are safer.”
In a separate statement, Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, described Lyons as “a phenomenal patriot and dedicated leader who has been at the center of President Trump’s historic efforts to secure our homeland and reverse the Democrats’ sinister border invasion.”
White House border czar Tom Homan said Lyons has “served selflessly.”
“I commend him for a distinguished law enforcement career and the countless contributions he has made to protect our country and advance its interests,” Homan said in a statement.
An Air Force veteran who was deployed overseas, Lyons joined ICE in 2007 as an agent in Dallas. He eventually rose to the No. 2 spot in ICE’s Dallas field office, before becoming the field office director of the agency’s Boston region, which covers all of New England. Lyons later assumed leadership roles at ICE headquarters, including as the assistant director for field operations at ICE’s deportation branch, Enforcement and Removal Operations.
Lyons, who is well-liked among career ICE officials, publicly embraced Mr. Trump’s crackdown. But he also at times disagreed internally with some administration decisions, including Noem’s effort to elevate Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino and task him with leading sweeping and controversial roundups in major U.S. cities.
After the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis — and the bipartisan backlash that ensued — Bovino was relieved of his command there. Border czar Tom Homan was sent to Minneapolis to wind down the operation, and Bovino has since retired from government service.
While he allowed ICE agents to arrest anyone they determined was in the U.S. illegally, Lyons internally pushed for operations to target those with criminal histories, a population the agency has historically prioritized for arrest and deportation, sources familiar with his efforts told CBS News.
Over the past year, ICE has faced intense scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers, some of whom have called for its abolishment. A growing number of Americans have decried the agency’s operations as inhumane and excessively harsh, and many have criticized the practice of agents wearing masks. Democrats in Congress have refused to fully fund the agency unless the Trump administration agrees to make certain reforms, spurring the ongoing partial government shutdown.
Under Lyons’ leadership, ICE has mounted a massive push to recruit and hire thousands of additional deportation agents, thanks to $75 billion in funds provided by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. He also signed a May 2025 memo, disclosed earlier this year by a whistleblower, that authorized ICE agents to forcibly enter homes without judicial warrants during certain operations, a marked shift from longstanding agency practice and policy.
