Imagine being this poor sob.


‘Visibly upset and struggling’: Acting ICE head hospitalized twice over stress, officials say

After heated calls, Lyons told colleagues that he hated getting shouted at and expressed frustration that the White House was often mad at his agency, according to the current official and former official who heard such comments.

Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and key architect of the White House’s immigration strategy, regularly and aggressively grills Lyons and other officials during a daily 10 a.m. administration phone call, according to two current and two former administration officials who have been on the calls. They said Miller yelled at Lyons for low deportation numbers or over tactical and strategic disagreements and the ICE head usually responds by apologizing and promising to address the issues.

“That’s gonna create some significant psychological pressure,” one of the current officials said.


Two of the officials provided by the White House also said that Lyons complained to them a number of times that Corey Lewandowski, who was the top adviser to Noem, also sometimes yelled at him on a daily 7 a.m. call.


After POLITICO asked the White House about the reporting, the press office arranged interviews with three additional senior administration officials on the condition of anonymity who are regularly on the calls. They disputed that Miller yells at Lyons directly, with one saying the deputy chief of staff is “passionate” and another saying he asks “very pointed questions in a very assertive tone.”

“Stephen has quite the affinity for Todd,” one of the administration officials said. “He certainly has always had a really kind of likeness and a genuine appreciation for the hard work and efforts that Todd is being asked to do.”

The third senior administration official likened some of the calls to “a heated business meeting, if you will, where the host isn’t putting up with any BS and asking a lot of questions.”

“It is very much a high level of accountability,” said the third official, who noted that “a lot of pressure” has been exerted on immigration officials to accomplish Trump’s agenda. The person also said that the stress Lyons has been under has been caused “a little bit” by pressure from the White House but that it’s normal to face such stress when having a major government immigration job in Washington. The official added that they thought Lyons handles the stress of his job well.