Then-acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons testifies during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on February 10, 2026 in Washington, DC.
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Todd Lyons, who led U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during some of the most volatile moments this year, has been hired by a defense contractor to help “on U.S. homeland defense strategy, interagency operations, and international security.”
In confirming the move, Navigators Security and Defense told NPR that it does not engage in lobbying activities, and that Lyons cannot engage with the Department of Homeland Security for a year due to federal laws.
It said Lyons is the company’s new senior vice president for U.S. homeland security and international affairs.
Lyons did not respond to NPR’s multiple requests for comment.
Navigators Security and Defense is a subsidiary of Navigators Global, a lobbying firm with clients including General Motors, the New York Jets, and GEO Group, a private prison contractor running immigration detention centers across the country, including Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, N.J.
“Lyons brings more than three decades of law enforcement leadership and military expertise in support of Navigators Security and Defense clientele,” the company said.
Navigators Global has represented NPR and the NPR Network to Congress since 2011.
Leading ICE through tumultuous times
Lyons served as ICE’s acting director from March 2025 to May 2026.
During his tenure, ICE agents were tasked with carrying out some of the Trump administration’s most aggressive immigration enforcement operations, including big, made-for-TV crackdowns in Chicago and Minneapolis.
Lyons faced intense pressure to meet a 3,000-person daily arrest quota imposed by the White House. Despite the agency’s aggressive tactics to accomplish this — including arresting immigrants inside immigration courts — the quota was never met.
Lyons stepped down last month.
He was replaced by David Venturella, a veteran of ICE who most recently worked for GEO Group in multiple roles, including as senior vice president of client relations and, more recently, as a paid consultant.
The GEO Group has seen a business boom as it cultivated close ties to the Trump administration.
In 2025, GEO Group made $254 million in income — that’s a 700% increase from 2024. In a news release issued last month celebrating GEO Group’s 2026 first quarter results, Chairman George Zoley said 2025 “was the most successful period for new business wins in our Company’s history.”
