Stephen Miller Reportedly Threatened To Fire 10% Of ICE Field Office Leaders With The Least Arrests

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reportedly threatened to fire 10% of ICE field office leaders with the least amount of monthly migrant arrests, the latest show of discontent with the pace of deportations so far in the Trump administration.

The threat took place during a tense May meeting that preceded a shakeup in the agency, NBC News reported, and where Miller demanded that arrests climb to an average of 3,000 a day. The outlet added that Miller also dismissed arguments that agencies were focusing on migrants with serious criminal records. At one point, Miller reportedly questioned why agents were not conducting arrests at locations like "Home Depot" or "7-Eleven."

Two top ICE officials left their posts a little over a week after the meeting. One of them is ERO head Kenneth Genalo, who will be retiring. Moreover, Robert Hammer will stop being the head of HSI and is set the be reassigned to another post within the agency.

Days later, ICE launched "Operation At Large," a nationwide plan aimed at increasing arrests. It includes over 5,000 agents of several law enforcement agencies and tens of thousands of National Guard troops, the outlet added.

The operation requires pulling personnel from various federal agencies to assist ICE operations in the U.S. interior. This includes approximately agents from Customs and Border Protection, alongside agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and the IRS. The latter will be tasked with providing information on the whereabouts of migrants using tax information. Others would have the authority to make arrests.

The goals, the outlet noted, require diverting resources from other areas. Agencies like the FBI, which historically avoided operations focused solely on administrative immigration offenses, are now routinely joining ICE-led enforcement actions and have been ordered to assign significantly more agents to assist.

Asked about the operation, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said "under Secretary (Kristi) Noem, we are delivering on President Trump's and the American people's mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe."