Then-acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons testifies throughout a Home Homeland Safety Committee listening to on February 10, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Samuel Corum/Getty Photos North America
disguise caption
toggle caption
Samuel Corum/Getty Photos North America
Todd Lyons, who led U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement throughout a few of the most unstable moments this yr, has been employed by a protection contractor to assist “on U.S. homeland protection technique, interagency operations, and worldwide safety.”
In confirming the transfer, Navigators Safety and Protection instructed NPR that it doesn’t have interaction in lobbying actions, and that Lyons can not have interaction with the Division of Homeland Safety for a yr on account of federal legal guidelines.
It mentioned Lyons is the corporate’s new senior vice chairman for U.S. homeland safety and worldwide affairs.
Lyons didn’t reply to NPR’s a number of requests for remark.
Navigators Safety and Protection is a subsidiary of Navigators International, a lobbying agency with shoppers together with Normal Motors, the New York Jets, and GEO Group, a non-public jail contractor working immigration detention facilities throughout the nation, together with Delaney Corridor Detention Heart in Newark, N.J.
“Lyons brings greater than three a long time of regulation enforcement management and army experience in help of Navigators Safety and Protection clientele,” the corporate mentioned.
Navigators International has represented NPR and the NPR Community to Congress since 2011.
Main ICE via tumultuous occasions
Lyons served as ICE’s appearing director from March 2025 to Might 2026.
Throughout his tenure, ICE brokers have been tasked with finishing up a few of the Trump administration’s most aggressive immigration enforcement operations, together with massive, made-for-TV crackdowns in Chicago and Minneapolis.
Lyons confronted intense stress to fulfill a 3,000-person each day arrest quota imposed by the White Home. Regardless of the company’s aggressive techniques to perform this — together with arresting immigrants inside immigration courts — the quota was by no means met.
Lyons stepped down final month.
He was changed by David Venturella, a veteran of ICE who most not too long ago labored for GEO Group in a number of roles, together with as senior vice chairman of shopper relations and, extra not too long ago, as a paid marketing consultant.
The GEO Group has seen a enterprise increase because it cultivated shut ties to the Trump administration.
In 2025, GEO Group made $254 million in earnings — that is a 700% improve from 2024. In a information launch issued final month celebrating GEO Group’s 2026 first quarter outcomes, Chairman George Zoley mentioned 2025 “was probably the most profitable interval for brand spanking new enterprise wins in our Firm’s historical past.”
