Venturella will helm the immigration enforcement company after beforehand serving in an govt function at GEO Group.
Revealed On 13 Might 2026
The administration of United States President Donald Trump has introduced that David Venturella, a former govt on the non-public jail firm GEO Group, will turn into the brand new appearing director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The Division of Homeland Safety (DHS), which oversees the company, mentioned on Tuesday that Venturella would substitute Todd Lyons, who’s leaving the federal government on Might 31.
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“Dave Venturella will function appearing ICE director following Todd Lyons’ departure,” DHS mentioned in a press release.
ICE has performed a key function within the Trump administration’s mass deportation marketing campaign, a part of a hardline strategy to immigration that has restricted each authorized and unlawful pathways to the US.
However Trump’s efforts to detain and deport international nationals have been an financial boon for private contractors that service the US immigration enforcement system.
GEO Group, one such firm, has seen its inventory value rise by 55 p.c during the last six months.
The Trump administration’s efforts to develop detention infrastructure have resulted in a sequence of profitable contracts for the corporate, together with a $1bn settlement to open a facility in New Jersey’s largest metropolis, Newark.
“Final yr was probably the most profitable interval for brand new enterprise wins in our firm’s historical past,” CEO George Zoley mentioned throughout an earnings name final week.
Venturella, who has labored at ICE beneath each Democratic and Republican administrations, served as an govt at GEO Group earlier than rejoining ICE final yr.
Silky Shah, the manager director of the Detention Watch Community, informed The Related Press information company that Venturella’s hiring was a “traditional instance of the revolving-door phenomena”.
“Venturella’s intimate data of ICE will possible yield one other spike of ICE detention facility openings,” Shah added.
GEO Group operates greater than a dozen federal civil immigration detention centres throughout the US. Immigration detention centres have been the topic of frequent allegations by rights teams of poor conditions and widespread rights abuses.
Not less than 18 deaths have been reported in ICE custody throughout the first 4 months of 2026, following a two-decade excessive of 31 deaths throughout 2025.
ICE has additionally been accused of deploying extreme techniques throughout enforcement operations in public areas.
In January, as an example, a marketing campaign of aggressive immigration raids within the midwestern metropolis of Minneapolis resulted in federal brokers inflicting the fatal shootings of two US residents: Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good.
Their deaths ignited widespread anger over the Trump administration’s strategy in the direction of immigration enforcement.
