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A longtime immigration enforcement official with deep ties to the detention industry is expected, according to Fox News’ sources, to take the helm of ICE, a move expected to draw renewed scrutiny from Democrats over his past work with a private prison giant as Republicans push to expand the agency’s funding and deportation efforts.
David Venturella is expected to be named acting ICE director as current Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons officially leaves his post next week, multiple sources familiar with the matter told Fox News.
Venturella, who has been working in the Trump administration as an ICE senior advisor, has reportedly held a senior role in the ICE division that manages detention-center contracts, though ICE has said he has no role in reviewing, approving or recommending contracts.
He was recruited with help from Tom Homan after President Donald Trump was elected.
FILE – ICE senior advisor Dave Venturella is expected to lead the agency on an acting basis. (Ron Holman, Visalia Times-Delta via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
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Before his current stint in government, Venturella worked for more than a decade at a private prison firm called The GEO Group, which has contracts with ICE to operate immigration detention facilities.
The company has faced numerous allegations and lawsuits claiming abuse, neglect and substandard care at Geo detention facilities.
Venturella, a career immigration enforcement official, made millions after moving to GEO-operated, where he worked as an executive from 2012 to 2023 and as a paid consultant through Jan. 31, 2025.
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons was reportedly hospitalized twice amid pressure from the Trump administration to increase deportations of illegal immigrants, according to a Politico report. (Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe and John Moore/Getty Images)
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He started his career in 1986 at the former INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) and as acting director and assistant director of ICE’s Office of Detention and Removal Operations.
Sources said he is well liked within ICE and one source described him as “definitely on board with the mission and the mass deportation agenda,” though he does not support certain policies, including roving immigration patrols, that were being used during former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s tenure.
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As Republicans attempt to push through a roughly $70 billion reconciliation package to fund ICE and CBP, Democrats are expected to make noise about Venturella’s prior stint with GEO, which has a history of complaints.
There will also likely be questions about Venturella’s past financial ties to GEO and potential conflicts, given reports that he has held a senior role in the ICE division that manages detention-center contracts that could go to his former employer. ICE has said Venturella has divested from GEO, has no financial ties to the company and has no role in reviewing, approving or recommending contracts.