The Trump administration has named a former longtime private prison executive, David Venturella, as ICE’s next leader, signaling the key role immigration jails will continue to play in the president’s promise to rid the country of millions of noncitizens.
Venturella spent 12 years at GEO Group, the massive private prison contractor, before returning to the federal government last year. Before GEO Group, he was a career official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
He has been tapped to serve as ICE’s acting director — meaning he will not have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. ICE has not had a director confirmed by the Senate since 2017. Venturella is expected to take over the role when Todd Lyons, the current acting director, leaves the position on May 31.
Hiring Venturella reflects the importance of mass detention in President Donald Trump’s “mass deportation” agenda. The administration has claimed the legal right to throw millions of noncitizens behind bars, even those who have been here for years without issue and have been following legal processes, because the misery of detention is an effective way to force people to give up their legal rights and “self-deport.”
Venturella’s rise to the top of ICE also reflects the revolving door between private industry and federal law enforcement. The federal government largely relies on private contractors for detention centers, planes, and other infrastructure used to detain and deport people ― though Trump officials have been working in his second term to directly purchase facilities and planes.
