The acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, tasked with implementing President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign, has resigned. "Todd Lyons will step down from his position at the end of May," announced his superior, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, via a post on X. Mullin praised Lyons' work, emphasizing that he helped the Trump administration remove "murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and criminal gang members" from the country. "Thanks to his leadership, American communities are safer," he wrote. No official reason for the resignation has been disclosed. Trump appointed Lyons to this position in March 2025, while he had approximately 20 years of experience at ICE. The agency has faced widespread criticism for its operations in cities like Chicago and Minneapolis, where masked federal agents were deployed against migrants. Protests escalated after immigration agents fatally shot two individuals in separate incidents in Minneapolis in January, sparking nationwide demonstrations and increasing scrutiny of ICE tactics. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has also faced criticism. Former Secretary Kristi Noem was dismissed by Trump in early March. Her successor, Mullin, has been in office for less than a month and faces the challenge of reducing tensions. According to Fox News, Lyons submitted his resignation letter on Thursday and plans to spend more time with his family. During the presidential campaign, Trump had promised widespread deportations of individuals without legal status. At a congressional hearing in February, Lyons stated that ICE had made 379,000 arrests during the first year after Trump's return to the White House and had deported over 475,000 people from the U.S.