ICE shakeup expected to reach Seattle and Portland amid push for more deportations

A major shakeup is underway inside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and it could hit leadership in Seattle and Portland.

Sources tell CBS News up to a dozen senior ICE field office chiefs nationwide are being reassigned as the White House pushes to triple daily immigration arrests, from roughly 900 to 3,000 per day.

Among those reportedly affected are ICE leaders in Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Philadelphia, El Paso, New Orleans, Seattle, and Portland, where some could be replaced by handpicked officials from Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Internal tensions rise over deportation tactics

Administration officials noted the changes are aimed at increasing efficiency and meeting deportation targets. But inside the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the mood has reportedly turned “tense” and “combative” as friction grows between ICE and Border Patrol leaders over tactics.

Some ICE officials favor focusing on “the worst of the worst,” including criminal offenders or those with active deportation orders, while CBP has taken a more aggressive, broad-sweep approach that’s drawn lawsuits and community backlash in several cities.

The shakeup comes as deportation totals remain below administration goals. DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, responded to possible reassignments in an interview with Fox News.

“We’re all about results, but we have a lot more work to do. We want to really surge those arrest numbers, especially given that through that one Big Beautiful Bill we’ve received the funding to do it,” McLaughlin said. “At this point, we’ve arrested and deported about 500,000 illegal aliens from this country, and 1.6 million illegal aliens have self-deported.”

There have been violent clashes between federal officers, ICE agents, and protestors in Portland and Seattle this past year. Many of those clashes have resulted in injuries on both sides and multiple arrests — especially outside the ICE detention facility in Portland.

A divided federal appeals court ruled that President Trump could send 200 National Guard troops to Portland to quell those protests. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1, allowing the deployment despite objections from local officials and the Oregon Attorney General.

The court found that Trump’s assessment of the situation warranted federal intervention, citing threats to federal personnel and property. However, dissenting judges expressed concerns about the legality of deploying troops in response to largely peaceful protests

On Monday, State Attorney General Nick Brown responded to the court’s decision, telling KIRO Newsradio, “There’s nothing that we see, legally or factually, that would justify troops being sent,” Brown said. “But even more broadly than that, I don’t want to live in an America where the United States military is patrolling our streets.”

There’s no official timeline yet for when the new ICE directors will take over their posts.

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