Donald Trump has chosen a longtime immigration official turned private prison executive to lead America's most controversial enforcement agency, tightening the relationship between the White House and the detention industry at the centre of the administration's mass deportation agenda.
David Venturella will become acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after serving in senior roles both inside the agency and later at private prison giant GEO Group. The appointment lands at a moment when ICE is expanding detention capacity aggressively while facing mounting scrutiny over deaths in custody, enforcement tactics and deepening ties with private contractors.
