President Donald Trump has selected David Venturella, a long-time federal immigration official, to serve as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson.

Venturella takes over from Todd Lyons, who announced last month that he would step down from the acting director role by May 31. Like Lyons, Venturella will serve in an acting capacity. ICE has not had a permanent, Senate-confirmed director since Trump’s first term began in 2017.

Who Is Venturella?

Venturella’s government career includes a significant tenure at DHS during the Obama administration, where he led the Secure Communities program. That program enabled local law enforcement agencies to share fingerprint and booking data with federal immigration authorities to identify people in the country illegally. The Obama administration shut the program down, but Trump brought it back when he returned to office in 2017.

After leaving federal service, Venturella worked for GEO Group, a private prison and detention contractor that holds billions of dollars in government contracts to house immigration detainees. He served as vice president of client relations before retiring from the company in 2023.

ICE Faces Scrutiny Heading Into New Leadership

Venturella steps into the role at a contentious moment for the agency. In January, federal immigration agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis. The incident triggered months of congressional backlash and a prolonged shutdown of DHS operations after Democrats pushed for restrictions on how federal immigration officers carry out enforcement actions.

That shutdown ended last month. Republicans are now pressing ahead with multi-year funding for both ICE and Customs and Border Protection through a legislative process that bypasses the need for Democratic support.

Venturella will oversee an agency that sits at the center of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement priorities, including the ongoing deportation campaign that has drawn both strong support from conservatives and legal challenges from the left.

No timeline has been given for whether the administration intends to pursue a permanent, Senate-confirmed director to replace the acting leadership structure that has been in place for nearly a decade.