The acting head of one of the United States’ most high-profile federal law enforcement agencies is preparing to depart his post, a top Department of Homeland Security official has officially confirmed. Todd Lyons, who has served as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since March 2025, will leave the agency on May 31 to take up a role in the private sector.
In a public statement released Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin praised Lyons’ tenure, describing the outgoing acting director as an exceptional leader for ICE and a central contributor to the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration policy agenda. “Director Lyons has been a great leader of ICE,” Mullin said, “he has been a key player in the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.”
Lyons’ nearly 20-year career with ICE caps a decades-long background in public service, which includes prior service as a U.S. Air Force service member and a local law enforcement officer. During his time leading the agency, Lyons oversaw the removal of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants from the U.S., aligning with the Trump administration’s priority of expanding immigration enforcement. Since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, the president has dramatically expanded ICE’s workforce, budget, and enforcement mandate, putting the agency at the heart of his controversial mass deportation initiative.
Under Lyons’ leadership, ICE carried out thousands of immigration arrests across the country, triggering heightened public scrutiny and repeated high-profile clashes with activists and protesters who oppose the agency’s expanded operations. Despite this public pushback, the Trump administration’s top border policy official lauded Lyons’ work. Tom Homan, the administration’s border czar, said in a statement that under Lyons’ direction, “ICE achieved a record number of removals in the first year of this Administration, despite unprecedented challenges.”
As of Thursday, no successor has been named to take the helm of ICE, an agency with more than 27,400 employees tasked with enforcing federal immigration law, investigating unauthorized border entry, and carrying out deportations. The process of selecting Lyons’ replacement will fall to Mullin, who was only confirmed to his role as Homeland Security Secretary last month.