WASHINGTON (AP) — David Venturella, a former executive at a private prison operator, will serve as the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Trump administration says, after the agency's current leader steps down at the end of the month.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said late Tuesday that Venturella would succeed Todd Lyons, who led the agency through much of the administration's tumultuous crackdown on immigration. ICE did not immediately respond to an email seeking additional information Wednesday.
Venturella left the Geo Group in early 2023 and has been working at ICE leading the division that oversees detention contracts, members of Congress wrote in a public letter earlier this year.
At the Geo Group, Venturella served in a number of posts, including executive vice president overseeing corporate development, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. It said he also has worked for federal contractors, including one that specializes in security clearances and background checks.
Geo has benefited from President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push, garnering big contracts to open shuttered facilities. Among them was a $1 billion, 15-year deal for a detention center in New Jersey’s largest city.
Venturella will lead ICE at a time when the public mood has soured on Trump’s immigration crackdown, which sent surges of federal immigration officers into American cities to round up immigrants. Those raids sent tensions soaring and prompted clashes between protesters and law enforcement, leading to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Trump returned to the White House on a promise of mass deportations, and ICE has been a central executor of that vision. Under Lyons’ leadership, the agency used a massive infusion of cash to expand hiring and detention capabilities, and it ramped up arrests to meet demand from the Republican administration.
Federal officials announced Lyons’ departure last month. He led ICE amid Trump’s efforts to reshape immigration.
Venturella's appointment comes as DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin settles into his role atop the Cabinet agency overseeing ICE. Mullin has promised to keep his department out of the headlines and has indicated a softer tone on immigration, although he is expected to align with the president's priorities on mass deportations.
One contentious issue confronting DHS now is a plan for converting warehouses into immigrant detention. Conceived while Kristi Noem led the department, the effort has encountered multiple lawsuits and intense community blowback, including in Republican-led states.
The $38.3 billion plan would increase detention capacity to 92,000 beds and mean acquiring eight large-scale facilities, capable of housing 7,000 to 10,000 detainees each, and 16 smaller regional processing centers.
Those, and other sites, were supposed to be running by the end of November. But after Noem’s departure, DHS paused the purchase of new warehouses as it scrutinizes all contracts signed during her tenure.
Last month a judge extended a pause on transforming a massive Maryland warehouse into a processing facility for immigrants, and there are signs that federal officials are scaling back the plans.
FILE - A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is seen in Park Ridge, Ill., Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File)
SAARLOUIS, Germany & RAVENSBURG, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 13, 2026--
Vetter, a leading Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), is celebrating the start of construction on its new site in Saarlouis with a traditional groundbreaking ceremony today. During the first construction phase, the company will build a state-of-the-art facility for the commercial production of injectable drugs on the 95-acre industrial site. In total, Vetter will invest almost half a billion euros in the site by the planned commissioning in 2031, underscoring its role as an industry leader for quality and technology. Once operational, the facility will create 400 to 500 new jobs, a figure that could rise to 1,500 by the final stage of the first construction phase. Ultimately, up to 2,000 jobs could be created.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260513593298/en/
In the first expansion phase, Vetter will build a 50,000 sqm manufacturing site, along with production-related facilities including laboratories and warehouses. Initially, three state-of-the-art cleanrooms are planned for the aseptic production of innovative and complex drug products: two for filling pre-sterilized syringes and one for filling vials.
Executives and officials at the groundbreaking ceremony
Senator h.c. Udo J. Vetter, Chairman of the Advisory Board and member of the owner family: "Today's groundbreaking ceremony marks a decisive step for the future of our family business. With our new location in Saarlouis, we are setting the course for further sustainable growth. We are creating the conditions to further expand our capacities in the field of complex drug product manufacturing. This underlines our continuous approach to offer our international customers the resources, quality and reliability they need and are accustomed to from us."
Anke Rehlinger, Minister President of Saarland: “Today is a good day for Saarland. With Vetter, a strong and innovative company, new opportunities are opening up for the region and its people. Here in Saarlouis, it is clear, that structural change succeeds when we actively shape it.”
Jürgen Barke, Minister of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of Saarland: “An advanced technology investment of this kind positions us as one of the most sought-after locations for the pharmaceutical industry and demonstrates how transformation succeeds: with new, sustainable jobs and a strong, future-oriented industry. This will set off ripple effects unlike anything we have experienced before.”
Global investments in the future
For over 75 years, Vetter has stood for quality, innovation and responsibility, helping patients worldwide to achieve a better quality of life. In order to meet the growing demand and increasing market requirements, the CDMO is sustainably investing in its pharmaceutical production sites in Germany, Austria and the US. With its new location in Saarlouis, Vetter is significantly expanding its capacities once again.
Please find the Vetter press kit and more background information here.
About Vetter
Vetter is a leading Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) with headquarters in Ravensburg, Germany, and production facilities in Germany, Austria, and the US. As a global player, the independent pharmaceutical service provider is also present in the Asia-Pacific markets of Japan, China, South Korea and Singapore with sales locations. Around the world renowned pharma and biotech companies benefit from decades of experience, high quality, modern technologies, reliability, and commitment of its 7,300 employees. In close collaboration with its customers, the Vetter team helps enable the supply to patients all over the world with medicines, many of which are vital. The CDMO provides support from drug product development through clinical and commercial filling to a wide range of assembly and packaging services for vials, syringes, and cartridges. With innovative approaches, Vetter develops prefilled drug-delivery systems together with its customers to continuously improve patient safety, comfort, and compliance. Vetter takes responsibility for sustainable practices and operates as a socially and ethically responsible corporate citizen. The CDMO is a member of the UN Global Compact and Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) and received platinum status in the renowned EcoVadis ranking. Multiple awards such as the CDMO Leadership Awards, Frost & Sullivan Customer Value Leadership Award and the recognition of Best Managed Company emphasize Vetter’s commitment to sustainable business. Founded in Ravensburg in 1950, the company remains family-owned to this day. For more information, visit www.vetter-pharma.com and follow Vetter on LinkedIn.
© Vetter Pharma International GmbH: Representatives of the pharmaceutical service provider Vetter, the economic development agency gwSaar, and political representatives from the city, district, and state at the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for the new production site in Saarlouis. (from left to right): Nicholas H. Vetter, Thomas Schuck, Henryk Badack, Jürgen Barke, Gunther Strothe, Anke Rehlinger, Senator h.c. Udo J. Vetter, Marc Speicher, Patrik Lauer, Wolfgang Kerkhoff.
