Frontlines TPUSA White House Correspondent Monica Paige interviewed ICE Director Todd Lyons earlier this week, discussing the department’s successes in the past year along with its approach to current crises within the US going into 2026.  

Statistically, 2.6 million immigrants either self-deported or removed themselves from the country, Lyons noted. There have been more than 650,000 arrests, with 70 percent being the “worst of the worst,” including suspected terrorists.

Lyons is encouraged by the increased cooperation between state and local law enforcement with ICE, a message the director emphasized often throughout the interview. 

“They see the value of the ICE law enforcement mission and what we do for the public safety footprint for their communities,” he said of those cooperating with ICE.

Paige asked Lyons about the work of ICE in Minnesota, and possible steps the department and Trump administration can take to prevent the atmosphere of a “2020 BLM riot.” 

The presence of multiple federal agencies in cooperation with ICE was emphasized as a necessary step for the agency to conduct successful operations.

“Please tone down the rhetoric,” Lyons said toward elected officials issuing heated public statements against the operations of ICE. “Stop calling ICE agents Nazis and the Gestapo, because unfortunately there [are] so many unhinged people out there that do not like the law enforcement…and do not like ICE that they are focusing their energy on attacking the men and women of law enforcement–and that’s not going to make any of us safer.”

Of utmost concern for ICE at the moment, is the disruption it faces from violent protesters and state officials. State police and local jurisdictions need to aid law enforcement members, Lyons said, as a way to quell some of the violent backlash toward ICE and cooperating federal officers taking place throughout the US.

Paige then asked Lyons if ICE is going after Americans, or brown people specifically, as some commentators conjecture. These  claims are totally incorrect, Lyons stated in response.

“When they go and make an arrest, they specifically know who they’re going to arrest: it’s usually a criminal illegal alien that has been released from a local or state jail, that poses a threat to the neighborhood or to public safety,” he said.

Lyons also affirmed that ICE is going after illegal immigrants regardless of race or nationality.