Latest news with #RobertHammer
Associated Press
30-05-2025
- General
- Associated Press
ICE, the agency central to Trump's mass deportation plans, undergoes a shakeup
WASHINGTON (AP) — The agency tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign is undergoing a major staff reorganization. In a news release Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced leadership changes at the department tasked with finding, arresting and removing immigrants who no longer have the right to be in the country as well as at the agency's investigative division. Kenneth Genalo, who had been the acting director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, is retiring and will serve as a special government employee with ICE. Robert Hammer, who has been the acting head of Homeland Security Investigations, will transition to another leadership role at headquarters. The agency said Marcos Charles will become the new acting head of ERO while Derek Gordon will be the acting head at HSI. ICE also announced a host of other staff changes at various departments within the agency. ICE said the changes would 'help ICE achieve President Trump and the American people's mandate of arresting and deporting criminal illegal aliens and making American communities safe.' The news comes after White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said on Fox News earlier this week that the administration was setting a goal of 3,000 arrests by ICE each day and that the number could go higher. 'President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day,' said Miller. Three thousand arrests per day would mark a huge increase in daily arrests from current figures. Between Jan. 20 and May 19 the agency arrested 78,155 people, which translates to an average of 656 arrests per day. This is the latest staff shakeup at an agency that is central to Trump's vision of removing everyone in the country illegally. In February, the acting director of ICE was reassigned as well as two other top ICE officials. Carrying out deportations, especially in high numbers, poses logistical challenges. There are a limited number of enforcement and removal officers — those tasked with tracking down, arresting and removing people in the country illegally — and the number of officers has remained stagnant for years. ICE also has a limited number of detention beds to hold people once arrested and a limited number of planes to remove them from the country. But the administration is pushing for a major funding boost as part of a package in Congress that could supercharge immigration enforcement. The plan would aim to fund the removal of 1 million immigrants annually and house 100,000 people in detention centers. The plan also calls for 10,000 more ICE officers and investigators. ___
Express Tribune
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Trump admin ousts top ICE officials amid push for migrant arrests
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detain a man after conducting a raid at the Cedar Run apartment complex in Denver, Colorado, U.S., February 5, REUTERS Listen to article The Trump administration is removing two senior immigration enforcement officials as the White House is demanding a sharp increase in arrests of migrants in the US illegally. Top US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials Kenneth Genalo and Robert Hammer will be pulled from their posts according to sources. ICE confirmed the changes in a statement but did not cite White House pressure to increase arrests. Genalo, who heads ICE's enforcement and removal division, will retire, the agency said. Robert Hammer, the head of ICE's investigative arm, will be reassigned. President Donald Trump, a Republican who took office in January, pledged to deport record numbers of migrants in the US illegally. 🚨JUST IN🚨 Top ICE officials Kenneth Genalo & Robert Hammer have been reportedly ousted as White House pushes for 3,000 daily immigrant arrests—triple the current rate. Move follows demands from Trump aide Stephen Miller & DHS Sec. Kristi Noem. — Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) May 29, 2025 Deportations so far have lagged numbers under Trump's administration compared to his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden. Under the Biden administration, the US faced higher levels of illegal immigration and quickly deported many recent border crossers. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security, denied that the officials were pushed out of their roles, saying it "isn't accurate." The two officials have not yet responded to the development. The removal of Genalo and Hammer follows multiple ICE leadership shakeups in February. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told Fox News' "Hannity" on Wednesday that the White House was setting a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day, far above an earlier 1,000 per day arrest quota. Miller, the architect of Trump's immigration agenda, shouted at ICE officials over insufficient arrests in a meeting last week, one of the sources and two other people familiar with the matter said. The meeting was first reported by Axios. Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also threatened to fire the bottom 10% of regional ICE officials based on their arrest tallies, the people said. ICE said Marcos Charles, a former Dallas field office director, would take over enforcement and removal operations. Derek Gordon, a Washington-based official, will helm its investigative arm, the agency said.
CBS News
30-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Trump administration shakes up leadership at ICE amid frustrations with arrest, deportation levels
The Trump administration is shaking up Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership amid continued frustrations within the White House about the level of immigration arrests and deportations conducted by the agency, officials announced Thursday. Kenneth Genalo will no longer lead Enforcement and Removal Operations, the ICE branch tasked with carrying out arrests and deportations. Genalo, a longtime ICE official, is retiring and plans to advise agency leaders as a special government employee, officials said. ERO has been spearheading the Trump administration's aggressive and government-wide campaign to ramp up efforts to locate, arrest and deport unauthorized migrants across the country. Meanwhile, Robert Hammer, the head of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations office, was reassigned to another post within the agency that officials described as a "critical leadership position." As the Department of Homeland Security's investigative arm, HSI is a specialized law enforcement agency that has historically focused on combating transnational crime, like child exploitation and human trafficking, but many of its agents have been diverted by the Trump administration to support immigration arrest and deportation efforts. Genalo and Hammer will be replaced by Marcos Charles and Derek Gordon, two career ICE officials, the agency said in a statement Thursday. In that statement, ICE portrayed the changes as a "leadership realignment to support its increasing operational tempo." "Organizational realignments will help ICE achieve President Trump and the American people's mandate of arresting and deporting criminal illegal aliens and making American communities safe," the agency said. ICE leadership has faced intense pressure from the White House to increase arrests of migrants who are living in the U.S. illegally or under one of several temporary immigration programs the Trump administration is seeking to dismantle. Stephen Miller, the White House's deputy chief of staff, said Wednesday on Fox News that the administration is pushing ICE to carry out "a minimum" of 3,000 arrests per day — a target that would amount to an unprecedented expansion of immigration enforcement. In an interview Thursday with CBS News' "The Takeout," White House "border czar" Tom Homan confirmed he wants to "vastly increase" arrests, and argued a 3,000-arrest-per-day target is attainable. "The numbers are good. ... They're a lot better than the Biden administration. But it's not good enough," Homan told CBS News' Major Garrett. Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. This week's shake-up, first reported by NBC News, is not the first time ICE leadership has changed under the second Trump administration. Caleb Vitello, who President Trump initially tapped to lead ICE, was reassigned in February just a few weeks after being named acting director of the agency. He was replaced by Todd Lyons, a top ICE official who continues to serve as acting director. Immigration
Washington Post
29-05-2025
- General
- Washington Post
Trump administration shakes up ICE leadership as it struggles to ramp up deportations
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is shaking up its leadership as the Trump administration struggles to ramp up deportations and meet the president's goal of removing 1 million unauthorized immigrants in his first year. Robert Hammer, the acting head of Homeland Security Investigations, has been reassigned four months after taking charge of the Department of Homeland Security's investigative arm, the agency announced Thursday. In addition, Ken Genalo, who has been acting chief of enforcement and removal operations, will be retiring.
Fox News
29-05-2025
- General
- Fox News
Leadership shake-up coming at ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, sources say
There will soon be a leadership shake-up within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Department of Homeland Security, Fox News has learned. The changes include the retirement of Kenneth Genalo, who currently serves as acting executive associate director of ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), sources at the White House and ICE told Fox News. The sources also say that Robert Hammer, executive associate director of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is being reassigned. Current deputy special agent in charge Derek Gordon is expected to take over as acting HSI director. The role changes are only part of a "massive realignment" within ICE, the sources told Fox News. ICE and HSI have not responded to requests for comment. Word of the changes comes just days after White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller reportedly lashed out at top immigration officials at a May 21 meeting in ICE headquarters, Axios reported Wednesday. Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly demanded that ICE start arresting 3,000 people per day as part of the illegal immigration and deportation crackdown. This week, ICE officers also launched a nationwide initiative to begin arresting illegal immigrants at their immigration and asylum hearings. The effort targets illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. fewer than two years. The DHS strategy is to drop their immigration case, arrest the migrant, then place them into expedited deportation proceedings. The initiative requires the DHS to drop the cases because migrants cannot be put forward for expedited removal if they have a pending case.
