Ronald Donato Vitiello (born July 30, 1963) is an American government official and former U.S. Border patrol agent who served as deputy director and acting director of the

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the Un ...

from June 30, 2018 to April 12, 2019. He previously served as acting deputy commissioner of the

U.S. Customs and Border Protection United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilita ...

from 2017 to 2018 and chief of the

United States Border Patrol The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and is responsible for secu ...

in 2017. In 2018, U.S. president

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

awarded Vitiello a

Presidential Rank Award The Presidential Rank Awards program is an individual award program granted by the United States government to career Senior Executive Service (SES) members and Senior Career Employees within the OPM-allocated Senior-Level (SL) or Scientific-Profe ...

for Distinguished Executive in the Senior Executive Service.

Career

Vitiello joined the U.S. Border Patrol agent in 1985, as a member of the Border Patrol Academy of Class 174. His first duty station was in

Laredo, Texas Laredo ( ; ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Webb County, Texas, Webb County, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Founded in 1755, Laredo grew from a villag ...

. He has held various leadership positions within the Border Patrol, including supervisory Border patrol agent; assistant patrol agent in charge; special operations Supervisor; deputy assistant regional director for the Border Patrol at Immigration and Naturalization Services’ Central Region Office in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

; chief patrol agent for the Rio Grande Valley Sector in

Edinburg, Texas Edinburg ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. The population was 100,243 at the 2020 census, and in 2022, its estimated population was 104,294, making it the second-largest city in Hidalgo County, and th ...

, and for the Swanton Sector in

Swanton, Vermont Swanton, Vermont may refer to: *Swanton (town), Vermont *Swanton (village), Vermont Swanton is a village in the town of Swanton in Franklin County, Vermont, United States. It is sometimes called Swanton Village to distinguish it from the surrou ...

sectors; assistant chief patrol agent; and Senior Associate chief.

Chief of the Border Patrol

In 2010, Vitiello was appointed deputy chief of the Border Patrol, and in 2015-16 he served as acting chief, after which Mark A. Morgan was appointed chief. Vitiello then served as executive assistant commissioner for operations support at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol's parent agency. Vitiello was appointed chief of the Border Patrol by President

in January 2017 and assumed the position on February 1, 2017, replacing Mark A. Morgan. The National Border Patrol Council, the union which represents Border patrol agents, openly supported Vitiello for the position.

Deputy Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection

After U.S. Customs and Border Protection deputy commissioner

Randolph Alles Randolph D. "Tex" Alles (born 1954) is an American law enforcement officer and government official who had served as the Deputy Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Management and the de facto head of the DHS Management Directorate, under th ...

resigned to become the director of the United States Secret Service, Vitiello was appointed to take his place on April 25, 2017.

Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

In early June 2018, Vitiello was named acting director of

(ICE) by Secretary of

Homeland Security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" to ...

Kirstjen Nielsen Kirstjen Michele Nielsen (; born May 14, 1972) is an American attorney who served as United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019. She is a former White House Deputy Chief of Staff, principal White House deputy chief of staff ...

. Under Vitiello's leadership, ICE continued implementing a policy of "zero tolerance," which critics charge has had the result of separating families at the border and increasing deportations. In August 2018, Trump nominated Vitiello to become ICE's permanent director. During a 2018 Senate confirmation hearing, Senator

Gary Peters Gary Charles Peters (born December 1, 1958) is an American lawyer, politician, and former military officer serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Michigan, a seat he has hel ...

brought up a 2015 tweet from Vitiello, where he suggested to

Mark Levin Mark Reed Levin (; born September 21, 1957) is an American broadcast news analyst, columnist, lawyer, political commentator, radio personality, and writer. He is the host of syndicated radio show '' The Mark Levin Show'', as well as '' Life, ...

that the Democratic Party be renamed the "liberalcratic party or the NeoKlanist party". Vitiello said it was intended as a direct message, was a joke, and was sorry it caused offense;

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

echoed Peters' reply, grilling him on why that was a poor comparison. When Vitiello said the KKK "tried to use fear and force" against "race and ethnicity", Harris asked if Vitiello saw parallels between ICE and the KKK, especially with ICE's enforcement of the

Trump administration family separation policy The family separation policy under the First presidency of Donald Trump, first Trump administration was a controversial immigration enforcement strategy implemented in the United States from 2017 to 2018, aimed at Immigration policy of the f ...

. This led to a strong reaction from

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

Trish Regan Patricia Ann "Trish" Regan (born December 13, 1972) is a conservative American Podcaster, author, and former television talk-show host. She hosted ''Trish Regan Primetime'' on the Fox Business Network from 2015 to 2020. Regan was previously a ...

and a strong letter to Harris from the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. On April 4, 2019, Trump rescinded Vitiello's nomination as director of ICE, stating to reporters the next day at the White House before leaving on a trip to border that, "Ron’s a good man, but we’re going in a tougher direction." On April 10, 2019, Vitiello announced his resignation from ICE.

Personal life and education

Vitiello graduated from

Santana High School Santana High School is a public high school in Santee, California. It is part of Grossmont Union High School District. History 2001 Shooting On March 5, 2001, at Santana High School, 15-year-old Charles Andrew Williams shot and killed two st ...

in 1981. He is married to Nuri and has two children.

References

External links

CBP profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vitiello, Ronald 1963 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Grossmont College alumni United States Border Patrol agents U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials People from Chicago First Trump administration personnel Obama administration personnel