The National ICE Council, the labor union that represents 6,000 of ICE deportation officers, had tried to sink Ronald D. Vitiello's nomination to be the full director at ICE.
It appeared Mr. Vitiello was going to see Senate action anyway, until Mr. Trump stepped in late last week and pulled the nomination, saying he wanted to go in a "tougher" direction. The decision caught many in Homeland Security by surprise including, reportedly, Mr. Vitiello himself.
"When Ronald Vitiello clearly demonstrated an inability to effectively lead the agency, President Trump stepped in and made a change. That's how it's supposed to work. That's leadership. That's how Americans want their government to work," the ICE Council said in a statement Monday.
"You frequently speak publicly of the great public safety work ICE is doing under your leadership. To be direct Mr. President the rhetoric doesn't match reality and we hope that this letter shows you the complete and total nonsense that is really taking place under the Trump Administration on the southern border," leaders of the ICE Council said in a letter to the president last month.
In the statement Monday, though, the ICE Council said Mr. Trump braved "anti-Trump" reporting and a Washington establishment that doesn't understand the agency's mission.
Not so Mr. Trump, said the ICE Council, which took pains to blast some of the complainers usually quoted anonymously who blasted the president for withdrawing the nomination.
After Tom Homan, Mr. Trump's first acting director and first nominee to head ICE, withdrew and retired last year, the president moved Mr. Vitiello over as acting chief and nominated him for the position.
He was approved by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last month and had been poised to clear the Judiciary Committee this week but Mr. Trump's move derailed that.