The Biden administration’s head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will leave his post, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement Monday.
ICE Deputy Director and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director Tae D. Johnson will retire from his post, Mayorkas said. Johnson’s departure comes just days after Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz’s retirement announcement. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Romanians Are Flooding The Border At Record Numbers And Committing Fraud Across The US)
“I am grateful to Tae Johnson for his service to ICE, the Department, and the nation. Mr. Johnson has been an integral member of ICE’s leadership team through multiple administrations,” Mayorkas said in his statement. “He has been instrumental in advancing many of DHS’s critical missions, including the enforcement of our country’s immigration laws and our work to dismantle terrorist and criminal organizations. He helped transform the organizational culture of ICE by focusing its resources on public safety and national security.”
“Thank you for your tremendous support and making it easy for me to lead ICE, for the past two-and-a-half years; thank you for your dedication, commitment, and the sacrifices you make every day for the American people and our national security. It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to serve alongside you, and I’m extremely proud of the extraordinary work that we’ve accomplished together. I will forever advocate on behalf of you and the ICE mission,” Johnson wrote to ICE personnel in an internal memo Monday, according to a copy of the document the Daily Caller News Foundation obtained.
One ICE official, however, told the DCNF that agency morale was tanking due to low enforcement levels, and Johnson’s words did little to address the situation. In fiscal year 2022, ICE removals tanked to 72,177 and 59,011 noncitizens in fiscal year 2021 compared to 185,884 noncitizens deported in fiscal year 2020.
Deportations have dipped as illegal immigration has spiked at the southern border.
“Agents don’t feel valued, we feel like all these illegals have more rights and priorities than us, than the American people. Changing ‘leadership’ is not going to fix this crisis. Is this his way of washing his hands and passing the problem down to the next ‘leader’?,” the ICE official, who requested anonymity as they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, said of Johnson’s farewell message.
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