The acting director of the US immigration agency ICE, Todd Lyons, will resign at the end of May. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who is responsible for homeland security, announced this on the X platform. Lyons played a key role in helping US President Donald Trump’s administration “remove murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists and gang members from American communities,” Mullin wrote. “Thanks to his leadership, American communities are safer today.” The reasons for Lyon’s resignation have not yet been given.
Trump appointed Lyons to office in March 2025. Lyons had previously worked for ICE for 20 years. The US President is using the immigration authorities to enforce his plans for the mass deportation of migrants. The agency was in focus because of raids in US cities such as Chicago and Minneapolis, in which masked federal officers also took action against migrants.
Justin Fairfax once wanted to become governor of the US state of Virginia. Now the 47-year-old shot his wife and ended his own life. Read more about this here.
Insider: US authorities examine suspicious oil bets ahead of Trump’s Iran decisions
According to insiders, the US derivatives regulator CFTC is investigating a series of oil futures transactions that were made shortly before important changes in US President Donald Trump’s Iran policy.
The investigation centers on transactions on the CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) platforms on March 23 and April 7, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. CFTC chief Michael Selig emphasized in a pre-released speech for a congressional hearing on Thursday that the agency would take action against misconduct. “I want to make it unmistakably clear: anyone who cheats, manipulates or engages in insider trading in our markets will be found and punished to the fullest extent of the law.” However, he did not comment on specific investigations in the text.
The well-timed deals are likely to have yielded profits in the millions. Last week, a few hours before the announcement of a ceasefire between the USA and Iran, investors placed around $950 million in bets on the price of oil. There were similarly striking transactions on March 23rd. The investigators have requested, among other things, data from the stock exchanges to identify the actors behind the transactions. A CME spokesman said the exchange operator closely monitors its markets and works closely with the CFTC. ICE declined to comment.
The events are fueling concerns among parliamentarians and legal experts that advance knowledge of diplomatic and military decisions could be exploited in the volatile and opaque derivatives markets. The President’s Office had already warned its employees against exploiting their professional positions to bet on the futures markets. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren welcomed the CFTC investigation as a first step. However, regulators would need to examine more closely whether government officials were involved in insider trading. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Warren’s comments.
