Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday announced that Charles Wall will serve as Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) new deputy director after previously serving as the agency’s principal legal adviser.
“Mr. Wall has served as an ICE attorney for 14 years and is a forward leaning, strategic thinker who understands the importance of prioritizing the removal of murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists from our country,” Noem said in a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement. “I look forward to working with him in his new role to make America safe again.”
In his previous role, Wall oversaw 3,500 attorneys and support personnel “who represent DHS in removal proceedings and provide accurate, timely, and complete legal advice and counsel to the agency’s senior officials and workforce,” DHS stated. He has worked with the agency since 2012, when he was assistant chief counsel to the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor in New Orleans.
Wall’s selection comes after ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan announced she was leaving the agency to run for Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s (D-Ohio) seat in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District.
Sheahan joined the agency in March amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration across the country. Like Wall, she worked in Louisiana as the state’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries secretary. She also worked for Noem when the DHS secretary was North Dakota’s governor.
Both announcements come as tensions rise with Minnesota officials and the federal government over federal immigration enforcement operations in the state. Last week, an ICE officer shot and killed a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman named Renee Good, which sparked outrage that only grew after the administration defended the officer and accused Good of “domestic terrorism.”
DHS deployed a massive surge of immigration officers to the state. The administration stated that 2,000 DHS agents have been deployed to the Twin Cities, which the department noted was the largest immigration operation yet.
But ICE officers have been met with massive protests in the wake of Good’s death, with thousands protesting in Minneapolis and across the country, from Boston to Los Angeles.
Democrats from several states have pushed legislation attempting to rein in federal immigration enforcement, from New Jersey to California. Some of these bills, specifically in New York and California, aim to allow people to sue federal officers who violate their constitutional rights.
