Former private prison official to serve as acting ICE chief

"David Venturella is expected to be the next acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed to NPR on Tuesday. Venturella most recently worked for the department overseeing contracts between ICE and various detention facilities. He previously worked for ICE during the Obama and George W. Bush administrations. He left the agency in 2012 to work for Geo Group, a private prison company that contracts with the federal government, including for immigration detention. Venturella was at Geo Group for a little over a decade."

"The Trump administration has rapidly scaled up its detention capacity and policies in the past year, even as deaths in detention hit their highest total since DHS was founded, following a sharp increase in the number of detainees. Venturella will take the position effective June 1 following the resignation of current acting Director Todd Lyons. The selection comes as new leaders at DHS, including Secretary Markwayne Mullin, want to shift away from controversial and headline-grabbing immigration enforcement surges in cities. But the department plans to continue to build up its detention and deportation capacity."

"Last year, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee wrote to White House border czar Tom Homan, raising concern that Venturella's return to ICE to oversee contracts that would go to companies like Geo Group, his previous employer, presented a conflict of interest. They also complained about Homan himself coming to the White House after being a paid consultant to Geo Group. Compared to the start of President Trump's second term, Venturella takes over an agency with a larger workforce, more financial resources and also a continued funding lapse."

David Venturella is expected to become the next acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, effective June 1, after Todd Lyons resigned. Venturella previously worked for ICE overseeing contracts between ICE and detention facilities, and he also worked for ICE during the Obama and George W. Bush administrations. He left ICE in 2012 to work for Geo Group, a private prison company that contracts with the federal government for immigration detention, and he stayed there for a little over a decade. His appointment comes as detention capacity and policies have expanded rapidly, while deaths in detention have reached the highest total since DHS was founded. Democrats raised conflict-of-interest concerns involving Venturella’s prior Geo Group role and Tom Homan’s Geo Group consulting work.

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