Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons will step down from his role at the end of May, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed on Thursday.
Lyons has led ICE since March 2025 and will officially leave his post on May 31, according to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
In a statement, Mullin thanked Lyons for his service and said he is expected to transition to opportunities in the private sector.
Mullins said, “Thanks to his leadership, American communities are safer.”
Lyons assumed leadership of ICE during a major policy shift aimed at ramping up deportations and tightening border enforcement.
His tenure has been marked by significant expansion of enforcement operations, with reports indicating hundreds of thousands of deportations carried out since Trump returned to office in 2025.
During his tenure, ICE detained over 475,000 individuals and made 379,000 arrests in the first year of the Trump administration.
Lyons' departure comes at a time when the DHS is facing operational challenges in terms of staffing shortages and funding uncertainty.
