Former private prison exec to be new acting ICE director

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday confirmed to WORLD that David Venturella would serve as the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. His appointment follows the announcement that current acting ICE Director Todd Lyons will depart at the end of this month.

Who is Venturella? Venturella worked in U.S. Investigations Services, then eventually for ICE, according to the politics watchdog organization OpenSecrets. After leaving DHS in 2012, Venturella began working for the GEO Group, a private prison company, as an executive vice president. The GEO Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Venturella’s new position.

Dig deeper: Read my report in Compassion about what Americans really think about the Trump administration’s immigration policies.