According to a new report, Todd Lyons, the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was reportedly hospitalized at least twice in recent months for stress-related issues. The report said one episode happened in September and another in December in Washington, where Lyons was allegedly driven to a hospital by his security detail and kept overnight.
The report from POLITICO lands at a moment when Lyons is overseeing one of the most politically explosive jobs in Washington. Lyons has been the acting ICE chief since March 2025, after a career that included leading enforcement and removal operations inside the agency. Reuters reported in January that Lyons oversees an agency with more than 27,400 employees, an annual budget of nearly $10 billion, and additional long-term immigration enforcement funding approved by Congress.
That scale matters because the pressure on ICE has only intensified in 2026. Lyons has been one of the public faces defending President Donald Trump's immigration agenda in Congress, insisting in February that ICE officers would continue pushing forward despite backlash, violence, and growing scrutiny over enforcement tactics. During that hearing, Lyons said officers were carrying out their mission with "unwavering resolve" and added, "We are only getting started."
The POLITICO report paints a picture of a top official under severe strain. It said witnesses described Lyons during one episode as sweating heavily and turning "deep red." In another reported incident in Los Angeles over the summer, a bodyguard allegedly retrieved a portable defibrillator as a precaution while Lyons became distressed during an enforcement operation.
One anonymous former official told POLITICO that, "He would be visibly upset and struggling to make the decisions that were needed to be made by the director," and that his long deliberations would give his deputies more work to do. All four officials either personally witnessed or were officially briefed on these incidents.
The same report said some officials blamed intense pressure from inside the White House, particularly from senior adviser Stephen Miller, though Lyons rejected that explanation. In a statement quoted by POLITICO, Lyons said any stress was "in no way related to pressure from the White House" and insisted nothing would stop him from doing his job. The White House also pushed back, according to the report, with senior officials saying Miller is simply forceful and demanding.
Even before Friday's hospitalization report, the environment around ICE had become increasingly volatile. In February, Lyons said two federal officers appeared to have made false sworn statements about the events leading up to the January shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis. That case, as well as the fatal shootings of two American citizens by ICE officers, became one of several flashpoints involving federal immigration operations this year, adding to the pressure on Lyons as both a manager and public defender of the agency.
More recently, ICE agents were deployed to more than a dozen U.S. airports to help with security line operations during staffing shortages tied to the Department of Homeland Security shutdown. The deployment placed ICE in an even more visible role nationwide, with hundreds of agents sent to airports including Atlanta, New York, Newark, Phoenix, and Fort Myers. The move came as TSA absences surged, and more than 400 TSA agents had resigned since the shutdown began on February 14.
