Trump Purges ICE Leaders in Five Cities, Replacing with Border Patrol

(DENVER) The Trump administration has begun replacing top Immigration and Customs Enforcement leaders in five cities, including Denver, in a sweeping ICE purge aimed at ramping up migrant arrests and deportations, according to sources familiar with the plans. Field office directors in Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and San Diego are being removed and, in most cases, replaced by senior Border Patrol agents in a bid to align interior enforcement more closely with tactics used at the border.

The leadership changes touch some of ICE’s most visible regional command posts. In Denver, Field Office Director Robert Guadian is being ousted, sources said. San Diego’s Patrick Divver, Phoenix’s John Cantu, Los Angeles’ Ernesto Santacruz, and Philadelphia’s acting Field Office Director Brian McShane are also being removed. In Philadelphia, the administration plans to install an official from ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations arm, while the other cities will see senior Border Patrol agents step into the top enforcement role, underscoring a shift in strategy that brings border-style operations into the interior.

Officials driving the reorganization have set an arrest goal of about 3,000 per day, a substantial jump from ICE’s current daily average of roughly 1,178 arrests, according to people briefed on the plan. That objective signals a dramatic escalation in enforcement tempo and would require a rapid expansion of operations across multiple jurisdictions. The move is described by sources as a deliberate effort to centralize control and standardize aggressive enforcement across regions that historically vary in priorities and partnerships with local authorities.

The ICE purge in these five cities is the opening phase of a broader reshuffle expected to reach across ICE’s 24 field offices nationwide. Sources said up to a dozen field directors could be replaced as the strategy unfolds, with more changes likely as the administration evaluates performance against arrest targets. By placing Border Patrol veterans into ICE command positions, officials are betting that leadership steeped in high-volume border apprehensions can replicate similar results in the nation’s interior.

The personnel shifts are being shaped by figures who favor more hard-edged enforcement, including Gregory Bovino, known for aggressive tactics, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, according to individuals familiar with internal discussions. Their influence reflects a broader push to tighten coordination between agencies that traditionally split responsibilities: Border Patrol focuses on apprehensions at or near the border, while ICE targets people inside the United States who lack legal status or are subject to removal orders.

Field office directors are central to how ICE operates on the ground. They set local arrest priorities, direct fugitive operations teams, manage detention space, and coordinate with county jails, state police, and prosecutors. Changing who runs these offices can shift enforcement patterns overnight, affecting where and how arrests are made and how quickly cases move through the system. Installing Border Patrol leaders in these posts could bring faster decision-making and more aggressive scheduling of operations, according to sources, particularly if Washington is tracking daily arrest figures against an explicit target.

Denver’s inclusion in the first tranche stands out because the Colorado Front Range region has seen years of tense debate over local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. A new field director imported from Border Patrol is likely to revisit long-stalled agreements with local agencies and test fresh approaches to field operations. Similar recalibrations are expected in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, where local policies and court rulings have sometimes restricted ICE’s access to jails and records. In Phoenix and San Diego, the effect may center on fusing cross-border intelligence with interior enforcement to accelerate arrests and removals.

For ICE’s workforce, the leadership changes signal a decisive shift in expectations. The arrest goal of 3,000 per day would more than double current output, forcing a reordering of resources, schedules, and priorities across teams that handle everything from at-large operations to custody transfers and transportation. Achieving that number would likely hinge on tighter coordination with state and local facilities to identify individuals with pending removal orders and on more frequent deployment of specialized units that conduct targeted arrests in the community.

Administration officials have framed the shake-up as part of a broader strategy to increase deportations and bring ICE’s day-to-day operations in line with Border Patrol’s playbook. While ICE and Border Patrol share a common mission under the Department of Homeland Security, they operate in markedly different environments. Border Patrol confronts large groups at ports of entry and between them, where surge tactics and rapid processing are common. ICE engages in investigative work, targeted enforcement, and detention management across a patchwork of jurisdictions with varying levels of cooperation. Installing Border Patrol leaders in ICE roles is intended to compress those differences and emphasize volume-based results, sources said.

In Philadelphia, the decision to tap an ICE Homeland Security Investigations official rather than a Border Patrol agent suggests the administration is tailoring appointments to local conditions and agency strengths. HSI brings expertise in criminal investigations such as smuggling, document fraud, and workplace enforcement. Blending that with a mandate for higher arrests could produce a hybrid model in the region, pairing investigative leads with quicker tactical execution. In the other four cities, selecting senior Border Patrol agents signals a preference for leaders accustomed to high-tempo field operations and large-scale apprehensions.

The expected expansion beyond these five cities points to a national remapping of control inside ICE. Field directors serve as the connective tissue between Washington policy and what happens on a Tuesday morning in a county jail or a neighborhood. Replacing up to a dozen of them is not simply a personnel shuffle; it is a structural change that can reset enforcement priorities, tilt resource allocation, and alter relationships with sheriffs, police chiefs, and courts in ways that are felt quickly on the ground. Sources said the administration wants to see measurable increases in arrests and removals, with performance closely monitored from headquarters.

Critics inside the enforcement community warn that pushing for a daily arrest target risks straining detention capacity, legal processing, and transportation networks, especially if arrests outpace available beds and court dockets. Others argue that Border Patrol leadership experience translates well to the interior at a time when the administration is demanding speed and scale. Whether the shift will deliver the intended numbers without creating chokepoints elsewhere in the system remains to be seen, but the early message is unmistakable: the White House wants more arrests, faster.

The ICE purge also arrives amid long-running debates over how much discretion field offices should exercise in setting local priorities. In cities like Los Angeles and Denver, previous directors had navigated a complex terrain of sanctuary policies, limited jail cooperation, and state laws governing information-sharing. Replacing those leaders with officials who embrace a more standardized, centrally driven approach could reduce regional variation and bring a sharper focus on meeting arrest targets, even where local policies complicate access to information and detainees.

While the administration has not issued public guidance laying out the full timetable, sources said the first wave is already underway, with additional field offices expected to undergo changes in the coming weeks. The Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not release official statements as the moves took shape. Internally, officials are signaling that the measure is a cornerstone of a broader enforcement agenda calibrated to increase removals and to ensure that ICE’s operational rhythm reflects Border Patrol’s emphasis on volume and rapid throughput.

For communities in the five cities, the immediate effects will hinge on how quickly new leaders adjust staffing, expand operations, and coordinate with local partners. The names at the center of the reshuffle — Robert Guadian in Denver, Patrick Divver in San Diego, John Cantu in Phoenix, Ernesto Santacruz in Los Angeles, and Brian McShane in Philadelphia — represent years of institutional memory at ICE. Their removal and replacement with Border Patrol veterans or an HSI official is a clear statement about the direction the administration intends to take.

As the plan extends to more of ICE’s 24 field offices, the country could see a more uniform enforcement posture, fewer regional carve-outs, and a stronger emphasis on daily metrics reported to Washington. The leadership changes, guided by figures such as Gregory Bovino and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, mark an unprecedented effort to fuse border enforcement instincts with interior operations. If the administration meets its stated objective of 3,000 arrests per day, ICE’s operational footprint — from detention contracting to court scheduling — will have to scale accordingly, with outcomes closely watched by supporters and critics of the approach.

For official information on ICE’s structure and field operations, the agency’s overview explains how its field offices function and where they operate across the United States. Readers can find more on the agency’s mission and organization through the U.S. government’s ICE overview page.