Fox News appearances have been a common criterion for several of President-elect Donald Trump’s appointments to high-level positions, including his Cabinet. However, Trump took a different approach and appointed Caleb Vitello, who has decades of experience with the agency, to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the department slated to carry out what is hailed as one of his administration’s signature initiatives, the wholesale deportation of millions of immigrants.
Vitello will probably be able to swiftly execute Trump’s deportation proposals because to that experience. Likewise, Trump’s choice to appoint him as acting director will allow him to begin vigorous removal efforts without waiting for Senate confirmation.
According to a contemporary ICE official, Vitello grew up in the Enforcement and Removal Operations section of ICE. The insider noted that he has worked at ICE for more than 20 years and is well-versed in the agency’s fugitive hunting methods.
Since over 400,000 immigrants with criminal records are on ICE’s non-detained docket—that is, they entered the country with outstanding immigration procedures but aren’t in detention—that knowledge will be necessary.
Jason Houser, the Biden administration’s chief of staff at ICE until early 2023, described Vitello as a good, intelligent leader. According to Houser, he is aware of the difficulties and complications of a dysfunctional immigration system.
The selection of an ICE veteran was a source of relief for several agency sources.
He has a very level head. To be honest, I can’t think of anything about him that is contentious. Corey Price, the former acting executive assistant director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, stated, “I don’t want to call him a Boy Scout, but he’s as close as it gets.”
The entire removal process will be handled by ICE’s 20,000 agents spread over 400 offices, who will also be in charge of conducting illegal immigration searches, holding individuals in ICE facilities, transporting them to staging sites in the Southern U.S., and managing ICE-chartered planes out of the nation.
A body-worn camera policy that mandates agents to turn on the cameras while conducting searches and seizures, while on active patrol, or while capturing fugitives was recently put into effect under Vitello’s supervision.
Expert on use of force
According to court filings, Vitello testified on behalf of ICE in a use-of-force case in 2018 following five years as the agency’s chief use-of-force teacher at its training facility in Fort Benning, Georgia.
In the case, an ICE agent was escorting a detainee in handcuffs and shackles from one cell to another in 2013. According to the detainee, the agent shoved him from behind, causing him to fall face down on a concrete floor. The detainee lost multiple teeth and was unable to protect his face due to his complete restraint.
Although the ICE agent was charged with a crime, the case was later dropped by a judge. The detainee sued ICE in civil court, alleging that the agent’s actions were a direct outcome of their training.
According to court documents, Vitello refuted ICE’s allegation while testifying in 2018 that the ICE agent’s actions were extremely unique and offensive and that they were not something that we teach, do, or would agree upon.
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