Trump appoints new Immigration and Customs Enforcement director

President Donald Trump appointed Thomas Homan as the new acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said in a statement Monday night.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security said that Daniel Ragsdale, the acting director, will continue to serve as the deputy director of ICE.

The move was announced not long after Trump fired acting attorney general Sally Yates, and was met by chatter on social media suggesting that Ragsdale was fired. Gillian Christensen, the Homeland Security spokeswoman, said that Ragsdale was not dismissed from the agency and will instead remain in deputy director role he had served since May 2012. There also was no immediate indication he held any views that were counter to the president’s.

Reached on the phone, Ragsdale declined to comment.

Mark Morgan, the chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, also was removed from his post this month. He had clashed with the powerful Border Patrol union, which endorsed Trump for president.

Homan, who has 30 years of immigration enforcement experience, had worked since 2013 as the executive associate director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations. He was honored with an award last year for his work deporting illegal immigrants.