ICE acting director Todd Lyons will resign at end of May : NPR

FILE – Todd Lyons, senior official serving as director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, listens during a Senate Homeland Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 12, 2026.

Tom Brenner/AP

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Tom Brenner/AP

WASHINGTON — Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons, a key enforcer of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation program, will resign at the end of May, federal officials announced Thursday.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced Lyons’ departure, calling him a great ICE leader who helped make American communities safer. Mullin said Lyon’s last day would be May 31.

“We wish him well for his next opportunity in the private sector,” Mullin said in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press asking why he was resigning.

Lyons, named acting director in March 2025, has led the agency at the center of President Donald Trump’s plans to reshape U.S. immigration.

Under his leadership, the agency received a massive infusion of money through Congress, which it used to expand its recruiting and detention capabilities, and it ramped up arrests to meet the administration’s demand.

ICE also played a central role in a series of high-profile immigration enforcement operations in U.S. cities, including Chicago and Minneapolis, a deployment that ended after backlash over the deaths of two U.S. protesters at the hands of federal immigration agents.

Stephen Miller, the president’s deputy chief of staff and the principal architect of his immigration policy, called Lyon a “dedicated leader.”

“His courageous work at ICE saved thousands of American lives and helped keep millions of Americans safe and secure,” Miller said in a statement.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson described Lyons in an article on X as “an American patriot who made our country safer.”

We don’t know who could replace Lyon. But whoever does so will take over an agency with cash while remaining a subject of controversy. ICE is at the center of a battle in Congress, with Democratic lawmakers demanding restrictions on immigration agents before agreeing to restore routine DHS funding.

On Thursday, Lyons, along with two other top immigration officials, appeared before a House subcommittee to argue for his agency’s budget and faced scrutiny from lawmakers over ICE’s actions.

Lyon’s departure also comes as DHS is under new leadership after Trump fired former Secretary Kristi Noem, who led the department through the administration’s major immigration policy changes.

Mullin, who took over as secretary last month, will likely continue to advance the president’s agenda but has taken a softer tone on some of the administration’s most controversial policies.

Public perceptions of ICE during Lyon’s tenure were low. In a February AP-NORC poll, most U.S. adults, including independents, said they had an unfavorable view of the agency.

Lyons was questioned in Congress about the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and asked if he would apologize for the way some Trump administration officials called Good an agitator. He refused to do so.

“I welcome the opportunity to speak to the family privately. But I will not comment on an active investigation,” Lyons said.

Lyons said he had seen video showing Pretti’s shooting, but said he could not comment, citing an active investigation.

Lyons, who joined ICE in 2007 as an immigration agent in Texas, signed a memo, first obtained by The Associated Press, that gave federal immigration agents broad powers to force entry into homes and make arrests without a warrant from a judge.

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan described Lyons as a selfless servant and “a highly respected and effective acting director of ICE.”