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Top immigration enforcement official reassigned amid frustrations over mass deportation effort

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top official in charge of carrying out President Donald Trump's mass deportations agenda has been reassigned amid concerns that the deportation effort isn't moving fast enough.
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FILE - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers wait to detain a person, Jan. 27, 2025, in Silver Spring, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top official in charge of carrying out President Donald Trump's mass deportations agenda has been reassigned amid concerns that the deportation effort isn't moving fast enough.

Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Friday that Caleb Vitello, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was “no longer in an administrative role, but is instead overseeing all field and enforcement operations: finding, arresting, and deporting illegal aliens, which is a major priority of the President and Secretary (Kristi) Noem.”

The statement made no mention of why Vitello, a career ICE official with more than two decades on the job, was reassigned or who his replacement will be. But White House officials have expressed frustration with the pace of deportations of people in the country illegally.

Rebecca Santana, The Associated Press