Madison Sheahan, the deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is resigning from the agency to run for Congress in Ohio.
In a video launch on Thursday, Sheahan pitched herself as a pro-Trump conservative, touting her work on the president’s immigration crackdown.
“In just one year, we’ve made history, recruiting 12,000 new ICE officers and agents, and deporting over 2.5 million illegal aliens. Ohio neighborhoods are safer thanks to President Trump and ICE,” Sheahan said.
“At ICE, I returned security to our communities. I’m ready to take that same mindset to Congress,” she said. She also shared her letter of resignation on X.
Sheahan is running for Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s (D-Ohio) seat in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District.
Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in the House, narrowly fended off a Trump-backed challenger in the Toledo-area district last year.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed and encouraged Sheahan’s bid in a statement to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister site.
“I’ve known her for years, she loves her family, Ohio and her country. She will be a great defender of freedom when she goes to Congress,” Noem said, calling Sheahan “a terrific leader who led the men and women of ICE to achieve the American people’s mandate to target, arrest, and deport criminal illegal aliens.”
Sheahan joined the agency in March as Trump and Noem ramped up the administration’s actions to curb immigration. She previously served as Louisiana’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary, and worked for Noem when she was governor of South Dakota.