Longtime ICE official David Venturella chosen to head agency

Longtime ICE official David Venturella has been chosen to lead the immigration agency after its former acting director’s departure was announced last month, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Tuesday evening.

Venturella was executive director of ICE’s Secure Communities program, which deals with people in the country illegally who are in the custody of another law enforcement agency. He also previously worked at a private prison company.

Venturella has been chosen to replace Todd Lyons, who was the acting director of ICE but was never confirmed by the Senate and whose departure was announced in April.

Lyons oversaw ICE during a tumultuous tenure that saw mass immigration crackdowns in Democratic-run cities and public outrage over the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal officials in Minneapolis.

Lyons’ last day was previously announced as May 31.

President Barack Obama ended the Secure Communities program in 2014. Then-DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a memo at the time that the program alienated immigrant communities from local law enforcement.

Under that program, authorities shared digital fingerprints from everyone booked into jail with federal authorities, who used it to look for people in the country without authorization.

President Donald Trump during his first term in 2017 signed an executive order to reinstitute the Secure Communities program.

The shakeup at ICE comes weeks after the former head of DHS, Kristi Noem, was fired by Trump in March and replaced with his Republican ally, Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma.

Trump campaigned for his second term in office by promising mass deportations. After he retook office, ICE was thrust into the national spotlight when federal officers, including from ICE, carried out immigration crackdowns in cities including Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Chicago.

During the operation in Minneapolis, federal officers fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.