(NewsNation) — Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem dismissed reports of dissent and dissatisfaction among the ranks of her department as “absolutely false” last week, after a dozen Immigration and Customs Enforcement directors around the country were replaced by Customs and Border Protection agents.
When asked about reports of discord, Noem said that Trump administration officials were “thrilled” with the combined work being done by the two agencies to “help clean up our streets.”
However, two sources close to the White House told NewsNation that the perception the administration is trying to portray, of CBP and ICE working in lockstep, is untrue.
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At the heart of the conflict are Trump’s senior advisor Corey Lewandowski and White House Border Czar Tom Homan, who have been at odds, four White House and DHS sources confirmed to NewsNation on condition of anonymity. The conflict has led to uncertainty over who is in charge of immigration enforcement efforts.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with a reporter on her plane while in the air en route from Quito, Ecuador to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Thursday, July 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
Homan said he has been working directly with White House advisor Stephen Miller to increase deportation numbers. However, a source close to the White House with knowledge of the situation called Lewandowski the “shadow leader of DHS.” Lewandowski has continued to work within the White House in an unofficial capacity to avoid the public spotlight, a source close to the White House told NewsNation.
Lewandowski was floated as Noem’s chief of staff, a role that he has worked in on a de facto basis since January, according to published reports. Like Elon Musk, who was tabbed by President Donald Trump to oversee the Department of Government Efficiency,” Lewandowski was hired with “special government” employee status, although many within the White House questioned his role, Axios reported.
The New York Post reported that Lewandowski’s hours are kept by a DHS employee who submits the time on a bi-weekly basis.
Corey Lewandowski, former campaign manager of former US President Donald Trump, during the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, on Thursday, July 18, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Much of the differences in opinion about the recent shift in leadership appears to stem from an alleged quota – one that the administration vehemently denies exists – for detentions and deportations.
Trump and others in his administration, including Miller, have been unhappy with the number of migrant arrests and deportations that have been made since January. Miller has touted a figure of 3,000 daily migrant arrests, though others, including Homan, insisted no quota or goal has formally been set.
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“President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day,” Miller said in May.
Additionally, internal shuffling among DHS leaders has deepened rifts within the department, the sources say. NewsNation confirmed that ICE directors in Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Diego were being “temporarily replaced” by senior Border Patrol officials. The Associated Press reported that as many as 12 field directors, nearly half of those assigned across the United States, have been reassigned.
Greg Bovino, the chief patrol agent for the U.S. Border Patrol El Centro sector, right, walks along a protester with his hands behind his back near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Ill., Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Gregory Bovino, the U.S. Border Patrol commander who has overseen federal enforcement operations in Los Angeles and in Chicago, counted Lewandowski, Noem, Homan and U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks as “all being part of a great team to work for.”
Bovino, who has run “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago since early September, told NewsNation that he is not aware of any personnel changes within the agency and said that Trump’s immigration enforcement team is committed to its mission “for the long haul.”
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The Chicago-based operation, which DHS officials said Thursday is spread across five Midwest states, has yielded more than 3,000 arrests since Sept. 8, Noem said Thursday. Border Patrol agents and ICE officers working in an environment that has remained tense with clashes taking place between residents, protesters and federal agents assigned to the multi-agency enforcement.
“We’re grateful that we’re all on that same sheet of music,” Bovino told NewsNation. “And that same sheet of music is that we love the taxpayer, we respect the taxpayer, and we salute the taxpayer and we’re going to get this sorted out for you.”
Banks told NewsNation’s “CUOMO” this week that the Border Patrol has several thousand agents “working alongside ICE”.
“We continue to support ICE and we’re going to continue to support ICE on the interior mission,” Banks told NewsNation.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said that Trump’s “entire team is working in lockstep to implement the president’s policy agency. She said that the “tremendous results” in securing the U.S.-Mexico border and the number of deportations “speak for themselves.”
Noem said in response to a NewsNation question on the matter that changes in leadership do not indicate a dissatisfaction with current arrest or deportation rates. Rather, she said that more people being given the opportunity to lead and “step up and take on more responsibility is a wonderful thing in this country.”
Additionally, Noem criticized the use of unnamed sources within those reports, telling a NewsNation reporter last week, “If you don’t have a source and somebody willing to go on the record, then they’re simply not telling the truth.”
DHS announced last week that more than 527,000 “illegal aliens” have been removed from the United States since January, and an additional 1.6 million undocumented people self-deported.
NewsNation’s Alex Caprariello and Ali Bradley contributed reporting to this story
