The Trump administration has tapped a veteran Immigration and Customs Enforcement official to serve as the agency’s second-in-command. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Thursday that Charles Wall, ICE’s current principal legal advisor, will assume the role of deputy director effective immediately.
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Wall replaces Madison Sheahan, who is stepping down from the position to run for Congress in Ohio. In her announcement, Noem praised Wall’s tenure at ICE, noting that he has spent the past year helping lead the agency’s legal strategy during a period of intensified immigration enforcement.
“For the last year, Mr. Wall served as ICE’s Principal Legal Advisor, playing a key role in helping us deliver historic results in arresting and removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from American neighborhoods,” Noem said. She described Wall as a “forward leaning, strategic thinker” who understands the administration’s priority of removing violent offenders, gang members, and suspected terrorists from the country.
Wall has served as an ICE attorney for 14 years and, as principal legal advisor, oversaw more than 2,000 attorneys and staff handling deportation proceedings and other enforcement-related matters. In his new role as deputy director, he will be responsible for the agency’s day-to-day operations and will help lead a workforce of more than 20,000 employees nationwide.
Sheahan, 28, previously served as executive director of the South Dakota Republican Party and as secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Earlier Thursday, she announced her bid for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, a seat held for more than four decades by Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in congressional history.
Wall’s promotion comes as ICE faces heightened political pressure following a fatal ICE-related shooting in Minneapolis. Democratic lawmakers have renewed calls for sweeping reforms and threatened to defund the agency, while the Department of Homeland Security has surged federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota. President Donald Trump has warned that he could invoke the Insurrection Act if state and local leaders fail to adequately protect ICE agents from violence.[/read]