Trump’s immigration crackdown faces internal chaos at ICE

According to informed sources, the U.S. administration is drafting plans to overhaul the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), including replacing several senior field office directors nationwide.

The proposal stems from growing frustration within the White House and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over the slow pace of deportations—lagging behind Trump’s stated goal of deporting more than one million people by the end of his first year back in office.

Officials say the plan, which would reassign around six regional directors, has not yet been finalized.

This potential reshuffle highlights the administration’s ongoing struggle to fulfill Trump’s demand for a sweeping immigration crackdown — a policy cornerstone of his political agenda.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson declined to comment on the restructuring plans, but in a statement said:

“The President’s entire team is fully aligned in executing his immigration agenda — from securing the border to deporting criminal illegal aliens. The results speak for themselves.”

Over 20 field office directors currently oversee deportation operations across the U.S., each responsible for wide regions that may include multiple states or major areas like Northern California.

These regional leaders have faced mounting pressure to ramp up arrests. ICE has already replaced two acting directors and several senior officials amid Trump’s push for faster deportations.

Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former senior ICE official under the Biden administration, said:

“They’re under constant threat; people are being crushed. It’s a culture of fear. There’s been so much turnover that I can’t imagine anyone is able to take on the real challenges.”

The DHS reports that since Trump returned to office, over 400,000 people have been deported, with a target of 600,000 total deportations by the end of his first year.

However, those numbers can be misleading. Individuals turned back at the border or entry points are counted as deportees — even if they never actually entered or lived in the U.S.

Earlier this year, Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, met with senior ICE leaders in Washington to discuss ways to accelerate deportations. Shortly afterward, he appeared on Fox News, announcing ICE’s goal of 3,000 arrests per day.

Following his comments, daily arrests briefly climbed above 2,000 — but have since declined, with ICE unable to meet Miller’s benchmark. Even so, the agency has continued detaining over 1,000 migrants per day throughout the summer.

The New York Times reported that ICE’s deportation operations are time-intensive. Historically, the agency prided itself on targeted enforcement against specific individuals, not broad sweeps that cause panic in communities and ensnare bystanders.

Now, ICE agents are devoting massive time and resources to surveillance and raids, making it difficult to hit the administration’s high deportation quotas.

Agency data show that more than 60,000 migrants are currently in ICE detention — a sharp increase. ICE has been granted extra funding to expand detention capacity to over 100,000 migrants. Its annual budget was boosted to $28 billion under a domestic policy bill Trump signed earlier this year.

With ICE arrests lagging, U.S. Border Patrol agents have taken a greater role in enforcement — conducting workplace inspections at major retailers and even large-scale raids at residential complexes in cities like Chicago. Meanwhile, ICE continues to focus on narrower, case-by-case operations.