President-elect Donald Trump picked two men Thursday with deep immigration-enforcement experience as his nominees to run the two key enforcement agencies that handle the border and deportations.
He named Rodney Scott, a former chief of the Border Patrol and a severe critic of the Biden team, to be head of Customs and Border Protection. And he tapped Caleb Vitello, a long-time deportation officer, to run U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Mr. Scott is a particularly bold choice.
The Biden administration ousted him from the Border Patrol chief’s job in 2021 after he complained about their more relaxed approach to border security. He has also been a major voice in warning of potential terrorism concerns among the millions of illegal immigrants who have streamed into the county over the last four years.
Mr. Vitello currently runs ICE’s Office of Firearms and Tactical Programs, and has previously run ICE’s national fugitive operations, which is a key component of the agency’s deportation operations.
ICE officers had been hoping Mr. Trump would tap someone from within the deportation side of the agency rather than from Homeland Security Investigations, which is less closely connected to the immigration-enforcement mission.
Those on both sides of the debate saw the picks as a sign of Mr. Trump’s intention to follow through with his pledge of increased deportations and better all-around enforcement.
The New York Immigration Coalition said it was “alarmed” by the two nominations.
“Trump’s nominees stand ready to reshape our country, abandon our humanitarian obligations, and destroy millions of families through unnecessary deportations,” said Murad Awawdeh, NYIC’s president.
He called on President Biden to lock in protections for some illegal immigrants by flexing executive powers to grant tentative legal status, particularly for those from Haiti, Venezuela and El Salvador.
In picking two men with deep experience at their agencies, Mr. Trump was making another big break from Mr. Biden, who, when he was trying to staff the agencies in 2021, sought to install outsiders. He picked local police chiefs with no experience at the two agencies.
Mr. Biden’s pick for CBP commissioner, a former local law enforcement officer from Arizona, flamed out in 2022 after less than a year on the job.
ICE, meanwhile, has not had a confirmed director since President Obama left office in 2017. Mr. Biden’s pick withdrew and all of Mr. Trump’s picks from his first term withdrew from consideration amid intense debates over the future of the agency.
One of those picks, Tom Homan, who served as acting ICE director, is now Mr. Trump’s border czar, coordinating the incoming White House’s immigration policy.
Both ICE and CBP right now are led by acting chiefs.
Picking two men with deep experience at their agencies is also a sharp break from President Biden, who turned to outsiders in his nominations.
Both CBP and ICE are currently led by acting heads.
Mr. Trump had previously said he would nominate South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to head the Homeland Security Department, which would oversee ICE and CBP.
The third immigration agency is U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which handles legal immigration applications. No nominee has been publicly named for that post.
Mr. Trump on Thursday also said he will nominate Brandon Judd, the former long-time head of Border Patrol agents’ labor union and a crucial political ally of Mr. Trump, to be U.S. ambassador to Chile.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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