The Department of Homeland Security has a new game plan.  Kristi Noem, the head honcho, has just announced some big changes.  The first big change is that the agency in charge of immigration enforcement has a new boss.  The new acting director is Todd Lyons, who used to be the assistant director of field operations.  The new deputy director is Madison Sheahan, who used to work with Noem when she was the governor of South Dakota.  These changes come after the previous acting director was moved to a different job for not meeting the administration's goals.

The second big change is that the government is planning to use a huge military base, Fort Bliss, for immigration detention.  This base is located near the US-Mexico border in Texas.  The plan is to expand immigration detention operations into the military sphere.  This is a big move, and it's sure to cause some controversy.

The third big change is that the department is planning to step up lie detector tests on employees.  The goal is to find out who is leaking information about operations to the media.  These tests are not usually used in court, but they are often used by federal law enforcement agencies and for national security clearances.

Noem also warned that the department is running out of money for its mass deportation mission.  She said that unless Congress increases funding, the department will be in trouble in just a few weeks.  This is a big problem, and it's not clear how it will be solved.

The Trump administration has been under fire for its immigration policies.  The administration has been criticized for its deportation numbers, which are far lower than the monthly average of 57, 000 people removed from the US in the last full year of Joe Biden's administration.  The administration has also been criticized for its arrest rates, which were higher than usual in the first few weeks of the Trump administration.  However, arrests and detentions do not always translate into removals.  The numbers of people crossing the US-Mexico border without authorization has dropped dramatically since last summer, first under new Biden restrictions and now further under Trump.

The new leadership team has a big job ahead of them.  They will need to deal with the funding crisis, the controversy over the use of Fort Bliss, and the leak investigations.  It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

New Faces, New Plans: Shaking Up Immigration Enforcement

Actions