US administration expands ICE hiring and reshuffles FBI leadership

The Trump administration is significantly expanding its immigration enforcement capabilities while undergoing leadership shifts within federal law enforcement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to hire 5,000 new personnel by December to support a large-scale deportation agenda. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is reportedly pushing the agency to meet this target, with many new hires expected to join the Enforcement and Removal Operations division.

Simultaneously, the FBI has reassigned two veteran counterterrorism supervisors, Michael Burgwald and Courtland Rae, from the Washington Field Office to FBI headquarters. The move follows a dispute regarding the bureau’s handling of alleged harassing phone calls made to Katie Miller, wife of Stephen Miller. While the White House stated that senior leadership removed the supervisors for stifling investigations into serious threats, reports suggest the supervisors questioned the legitimacy of a requested threat assessment that did not meet the threshold for a terrorism investigation.