Caleb Vitello Dismissed as Acting ICE Director
Despite Pledge of Largest-Ever Deportation Operation, Results Fall Short of Expectations
The Donald Trump administration has dismissed Caleb Vitello, the acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE is an agency under the Department of Homeland Security responsible for enforcing laws against illegal immigrants.
The American daily The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported the news on the 21st (local time), stating, "This reflects internal dissatisfaction within the Trump administration over the slow pace of deportations of illegal immigrants."
A government official said that the ICE leadership is being reorganized and that a new acting director will be announced soon. Earlier this month, two other senior ICE officials were also dismissed before Vitello.
Previously, President Trump had pledged the largest-ever deportation operation of illegal immigrants and appointed Vitello, who was in charge of immigration policy during the first term of the administration, as the acting director of ICE.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arresting an undocumented immigrant Photo by Yonhap News
WSJ reported that senior Trump administration officials are pressuring ICE to increase the number of illegal immigrant arrests. They set a daily arrest target of 75 cases for individual field offices and issued directives that a total of 1,500 arrests per day should be made nationwide.
However, the number of arrests has not reached the targets. The number of deportations of illegal immigrants is also lower than during the previous Joe Biden administration. According to Department of Homeland Security data, the number of deportations in the first month after President Trump took office was 37,660. This figure is far below the monthly average of 57,000 deportations during the last year of the Biden administration.
The Department of Homeland Security explained that during the Biden administration, there were many illegal immigrants crossing the border, so the number of deportations was also high, but President Trump is reportedly dissatisfied with the results that have not met expectations.
The U.S. military is flying illegal immigrants to Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, and India. Additionally, the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base detention facility in Cuba is being used as an intermediate stop for deportations. About 200 illegal immigrants of Venezuelan nationality were moved to Guantanamo and recently returned to their home country.
The Trump administration is accelerating deportations by preparing measures to more easily arrest and deport illegal immigrants without criminal records, so the number of arrests and deportations is expected to continue increasing over the next few years.
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