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Who is David Venturella, the new ICE director with whom the US seeks a 'low profile' for deportations? The official who will replace Todd Lyons in a few days at the helm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a familiar face within US immigration agencies and arrives amid the severe criticism the institution has faced over the past year. David Venturella will be the new director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and will replace Todd Lyons, who will leave his post at the end of this month. Lyons was appointed in March 2025, shortly after Donald Trump took office, but recently resigned amid a tumultuous year in the service under his command. Although the government attributed the resignation to family reasons, the US press indicated that his decision may have been motivated by health problems caused by the position. Outlets like Politico revealed that Lyons was hospitalized at least twice in recent months due to the extreme stress his work leading ICE caused him, as the agency became increasingly criticized for its treatment of migrants and the general population. A familiar face. To fill Lyons' vacancy, the Trump administration has turned to Venturella, a familiar face in immigration services who has worked there intermittently for over two decades. Venturella began his work in the sector in 1986, and ten years later became a spokesman for the defunct US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in Chicago. He held several important positions in that state agency until it was dissolved in 2003. Around that time, part of the old INS's functions were transferred to the newly founded ICE, and Venturella joined the new entity, first as deputy director of immigration and customs and then as director of the Office of Detention and Removal Operations. David Venturella's time in public administration is best remembered for serving as executive director of the Secure Communities program between 2008 and 2011. This work involved developing a system of collaboration among police, prisons, and the neighborhoods themselves to detect and deport foreign nationals with criminal records who posed a 'high risk.' After this experience, Venturella moved to the private sector in 2012, joining the private prison company GEO Group, one of the largest in the world in that field, which currently has contracts with ICE worth over $1 billion. At this company, the former state worker served as senior vice president of client relations until 2023. After retiring from GEO Group, Venturella worked as a private analyst and returned partially to ICE in 2025 as an important consultant amid Donald Trump's mass deportation plans. This time he will begin his work as the new head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in June. New profile and previous criticisms. David Venturella's work in US state agencies has not been free of criticism, as detractors consider him a hardline figure who does not inspire confidence in terms of treatment of a portion of the population. Outlets like NBC News have recently recalled that the Secure Communities plan - which had the new ICE director as its chief architect - was dismantled by the Obama administration in 2014 on the grounds that it had alienated immigrant communities. Since then, the program has been on and off, as Donald Trump reinstated it in 2017, but Joe Biden removed it again. After arriving at the White House for a second time, Trump restored the plan last year. Venturella's formal return to ICE as its chief is reportedly part of Donald Trump's second administration's search for a reorganization of the immigration control entity. A recent article in The New York Times notes that Venturella has been tasked with carrying out a restructuring of the entity to purge executives considered 'slow' or 'uncommitted' to implementing the Trump administration's immigration policy. The information also details that a 'low-profile' operational framework is sought to mitigate the impact of migrant detentions, which has deeply divided US public opinion. The Washington Post has reported that in his previous role as an ICE adviser, Venturella was a key player in creating the agency's controversial detention centers and increasing their capacity. The D.C. outlet contends that the new director internally defended the use of large warehouses to house detainees, despite severe criticism of their living conditions. Venturella's arrival at ICE is also noted as a conflict of interest case, since when he was an adviser he directly oversaw government contracts with GEO Group for the detention centers. This occurred despite federal US law prohibiting a public employee from working on bids related to their employer for at least one year prior. The new ICE chief is said to have bypassed this requirement through an exemption granted by the Trump administration. According to The Washington Post, one incident illustrating the potential conflict of interest is the agreement GEO Group has with ICE for the implementation of electronic GPS ankle monitors for inmate surveillance. Currently, it is the only company with such a contract, and Venturella oversaw that process as a senior government adviser. Finally, the US press notes that Todd Lyons' successor is a very close figure to Tom Homan, Trump's appointed 'border czar,' who is said to have been the main driver behind Venturella's appointment. Homan reportedly considers the incoming ICE chief a key piece to carry out mass deportations on the scale desired by the current US government. Recommended video. 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GEO Group reported Q4 revenues of $707.7 million, up 16.5% year-on-year and exceeding analysts' expectations by 5.8%. Despite the revenue beat, the company's full-year revenue and EPS guidance missed analysts' estimates significantly. The company, which operates secure facilities and processing centres across the US, Australia and South Africa, announced new or expanded contracts expected to generate approximately $520 million in annualised revenues, marking its most successful year for new business wins. Across the safety and security services sector, the six tracked stocks reported a strong Q4, with revenues beating consensus estimates by 2.8% on average. However, share prices have declined 3.3% on average since the latest earnings results. GEO Group's stock has risen 2.3% since reporting.