A decision on who President-elect Trump will nominate to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is expected in the coming days, sources familiar with the proceedings told Fox News Digital, ahead of what could be significant opposition. to mass deportations from some Democratic states next year. year.
Discussions have been taking place at Mar-a-Lago this week and a decision could be made as early as Friday. Whoever is nominated will require Senate confirmation.
It is unclear who is in the running. A source said Thursday that several candidates are still being discussed and that Trump's team has yet to narrow down the list.
WHO ELSE COULD BE ON PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP'S IMMIGRATION DREAM TEAM?
Former President Donald Trump, then a Republican presidential candidate, speaks during a campaign event, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Mint Hill, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Sources had previously suggested that John Fabbricatore, a former ICE field officer, and Todd Lyons, currently leading the agency's Enforcement and Removal Operation (ERO) unit in Boston, were among the leading contenders. The transition team is understood to be looking for someone with deep law enforcement experience to lead the agency.
But Fabbricatore is now understood to be out of the running to run the agency. Lyons is believed to be highly regarded within the agency and among several people on the transition team, given his leadership of the Boston unit and his teams' work in pursuing criminal illegal immigrants who had been released from custody in the sanctuary. city.
'100% ON BOARD': BORDER STATE OFFERS TRUMP MASSIVE PLOT OF LAND TO HELP IN MASS DEPORTATION OPERATION
An ICE agent monitors hundreds of asylum seekers being processed as they enter the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on June 6, 2023 in New York City. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
Whoever leads the agency will be in the media and political spotlight for the next year as he spearheads what President-elect Trump has promised will be a historic mass deportation operation.
Trump has named former ICE Director Thomas Homan as “border czar” and is expected to take a leading role in efforts to secure the border and launch the mass deportation operation. He also announced that South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem will be his candidate to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
The transition team has already been considering a significant expansion of detention to facilitate the operation, with an increase in beds and increased detention capacity near major metropolitan areas.
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Those efforts are already drawing significant opposition from Democratic officials in some states. The governors of Illinois, Arizona and Massachusetts have said they will not help the government in the operation. But some Republican states have offered their support, with Texas offering more than 1,400 acres of land for mass deportations near the border.
