politics
Trump Administration Appoints David Venturella to Lead ICE
The Department of Homeland Security has selected David Venturella as the new acting director of ICE to oversee immigration enforcement and mass deportation efforts. Venturella previously ran the Secure Communities program and later worked at private prison operator GEO Group, which holds over $1 billion in government contracts.
May 12, 8:09 PM·2m read4 sources
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The IndependentAudio version
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The Trump administration will designate David Venturella, a longtime ICE official who previously served as executive director of the agency’s Secure Communities program, to serve as the next director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Venturella will replace the acting director, who is retiring at the end of May.
The selection was made by the new homeland security secretary, who replaced Kristi Noem after she was fired in March.
Venturella previously worked at GEO Group as senior vice president of client relations until 2023 and later as a paid consultant for the firm. The company operates prisons and detention centers and holds more than $1 billion in contracts with ICE according to public records. He rejoined ICE as a senior adviser in February 2025.
Secure Communities coordinates fingerprint sharing between local jails and federal immigration authorities to identify people in the country illegally. President Barack Obama ended the program in 2014. President Donald Trump reinstated the program by executive order in 2017 during his first term.
Under the previous acting director, ICE expanded its workforce to 22,000 and reported deporting 600,000 people last year.
The agency has operated under acting leadership for most of the past decade. The prior acting director’s last day is set for May 31. Officials instructed ICE field offices in April that agents should no longer enter homes without judicial warrants, reversing a prior practice of using administrative warrants that do not require judicial approval.
A House Judiciary Committee report released this week alleged that ICE has deported some detainees before they could reach trial. Officials have not yet responded publicly to the committee’s findings. The administration has also faced questions about potential ICE involvement around this summer’s FIFA World Cup and next year’s midterm elections.
