The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terrorism, border security, immigration and customs, cyber security, and disaster prevention and management.
The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the United States. The position was created by the Homeland Security Act following the attacks of September 11, 2001.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from cross-border crime and undocumented immigration that threaten national security and public safety.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that administers the country's naturalization and immigration system. It is a successor to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which was dissolved by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and replaced by three components within the DHS: USCIS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Section 287(g) of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deputize selected state and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law. Section 287(g) allows the DHS and law enforcement agencies to make agreements, which require the state and local officers to receive training and work under the supervision of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE provides the officers with authorization to identify, process, and—when appropriate—detain immigration offenders they encounter during their regular, daily law-enforcement activity.
The Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) is the civilian national intelligence component of the United States Department of Homeland Security and one of two statutory members of the United States Intelligence Community (IC) within DHS, the other being Coast Guard Intelligence. It is the only member of the IC tasked with providing intelligence to state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) governments, and private sector entities, and developing national intelligence products from information collected by SLTT entities.
Mark A. Morgan is an American law enforcement official who served as the Chief Operating Officer and acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection from July 5, 2019, to January 20, 2021.
Thomas Douglas Homan is an American former police officer, immigration official, and political commentator who served during Barack Obama's presidency and the first Trump Administration. He served as acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from January 30, 2017, to June 29, 2018. He advocates deportation and opposes sanctuary city policies. Within the Trump administration, he was among the most strident proponents of separating children from their parents as a means of deterring illegal entry into the country and curbing human trafficking. Since his retirement from government, he has been a Fox News contributor. Homan will serve as Trump's "border czar" during Trump’s second presidency.
Ronald Donato Vitiello is an American government official and former U.S. Border patrol agent who served as deputy director and acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from June 30, 2018 to April 12, 2019. He previously served as acting deputy commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection from 2017 to 2018 and chief of the United States Border Patrol in 2017. In 2018, U.S. president Donald Trump awarded Vitiello a Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Executive in the Senior Executive Service.
Sarah Ruth Saldana is an American attorney who served as the fourth director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from December 23, 2014, until January 20, 2017, under President Barack Obama. She was the first Latina and the second woman to hold the position of ICE director. Previously she had served as Assistant U.S. Attorney, then U.S. Attorney, for the Northern District of Texas.
Kevin Kealoha McAleenan is an American attorney and government official who unlawfully served as the acting United States secretary of homeland security from April to November 2019.
Claire M. Grady is a former American government official who served in areas of national defense and security procurement. She served as the Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Management, as well as the acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from August 2017 until April 2019. Prior to assuming her the role, she served as director of defense procurement and acquisition policy at the United States Department of Defense. In her previous capacity in the U.S. Department of Defense, Grady was a member of the Defense Acquisition Board.
Kirstjen Michele Nielsen is an American attorney who served as United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019. She is a former principal White House deputy chief of staff to President Donald Trump, and was chief of staff to John F. Kelly during his tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security.
James M. Murray is an American former law enforcement officer who served as the 26th director of the United States Secret Service from 2019 to 2022.
Beginning in 2019, multiple appointments of acting officials in the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were questioned, on the basis of whether the appointments were legal under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 and the Homeland Security Act of 2002. After the departure of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in April 2019, the Trump administration did not formally nominate a new secretary to be confirmed by the Senate, relying on acting postings.
Tae D. Johnson is an American law enforcement official who served as the senior official performing the duties of the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from January 2021 to July 2023. The legality of his status as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was disputed.
Jonathan Fahey is an American attorney, politician, academic, and law enforcement official who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and later the senior official performing the duties of the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from December 31, 2020, to January 13, 2021.
Patrick J. Lechleitner is an American law enforcement officer and government official. He has served as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since July 4, 2023.
