Washington — In an exclusive interview, Todd Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told CBS News he’s not a “proponent” of agents wearing masks during arrest operations, but said he will allow the practice to continue due to concerns about his officers’ safety.
He also confirmed ICE plans to use data from government programs like Medicaid to locate immigrants suspected of living in the U.S. illegally, including those with criminal histories.
Pressed on concerns about masked ICE officers and the possibility that imposters could exploit the practice by posing as immigration agents, Lyons said, “That’s one of our biggest concerns. And I’ve said it publicly before, I’m not a proponent of the masks.”
“However, if that’s a tool that the men and women of ICE to keep themselves and their family safe, then I will allow it,” Lyons said during his first television network sit-down interview at ICE headquarters in Washington. “I do kind of push back on the criticism that they don’t identify themselves.”
Asked if he will allow ICE personnel to wear masks, Lyons said, “I will.”
More of the interview with Lyons will air on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday, July 20, at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Lyons cited the increase in attacks faced by agents at ICE, the agency at the center of President Trump’s promise of carrying out the largest deportation operation in American history.
The Department of Homeland Security has said attacks against ICE officials have increased by more than 800% this year compared to the same time period in 2024. Numerous instances of violence directed at ICE agents and facilities have occurred in recent weeks, including an armed attack against a detention center in Texas earlier this month that has led to more than a dozen arrests.
Lyons agreed the increase in attacks faced by ICE agents could be partially attributed to the dramatic expansion in immigration arrests under the second Trump administration, acknowledging that the agency is “more visible in the community.”
But he argued his agents are being forced to go into communities more often to arrest individuals living in the U.S. illegally, including those with criminal records, because more cities and states have adopted “sanctuary” policies that limit local law enforcement cooperation with ICE. Those policies lead many jurisdictions to refrain from notifying ICE when they release inmates who are also in the U.S. illegally.
“So you are seeing us out more, and I think there is more of a tension,” Lyons added. “The immigration mission is one of the forefront of this administration, so it is a lot of scrutiny and publicity to it.”
Lyons says Medicaid data will be used to “locate” those in the U.S. illegally
CBS News also asked Lyons about a report from the Associated Press that an inter-agency agreement had granted ICE access to the personal information of millions of Medicaid enrollees, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers and data on patients’ race and ethnicity.
Lyons said ICE is “working with all of our other federal partners to try to gain intelligence, to locate these individuals that have been ordered deported by a judge or have been released from a sanctuary jurisdiction like we talked about. That is what ICE is using that data for.”
He cited the “many” so-called “got-ways” who entered the U.S. illegally without getting caught under the Biden administration and “just totally disappeared off the grid.”
Lyons suggested ICE would use different datasets, including from the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services, to locate the “worst of the worst” and those ordered deported from the U.S.
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