Marked ICE vehicles questioned

SANDUSKY — Madison Sheahan, the former deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, wasted millions of dollars buying largely useless marked vehicles for ICE, a news article contends. ICE officers can't use the vehicles for enforcement because they prefer unmarked vehicles to avoid detection, says an article published March 8 by the Washington Examiner, a conservative news outlet that focuses on political reporting. A campaign spokesman for Sheahan said the piece, which cited unnamed sources, falsely blames Sheahan for a decision that's the responsibility of another ICE official. Democrats, meanwhile, have been circulating the article. The article states that ICE announced last November it was buying 25 marked vehicles for about $2 million that it would use for recruitment purposes. It later contends that she purchased many more vehicles with the ICE markings. "In the second half of 2025, Sheahan upgraded much of the workforce's fleet from unmarked cars to marked ones, purchasing a couple of thousand vehicles," the article states. The Examiner noted that ICE officials did not answer questions about how many vehicles were purchased and how much they cost overall. Candidate refutes claim Sheahan is a Republican candidate for the Ninth District U.S. House seat. She faces four other Republicans in a May 5 primary, which will pick a GOP candidate to oppose U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, in November. The Ninth District covers much of upper northwest Ohio, including Erie, Ottawa and Sandusky counties. Sheahan was the political director for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from February 2021 to January 2024 when Noem was South Dakota's governor. When Noem became the secretary of Homeland Security, Sheahan was named ICE's deputy director, a post Sheahan left to run for Congress. President Donald Trump recently removed Noem. Sheahan is listed as a Sylvania resident in her campaign filing. She grew up in Curtice, Ohio, east of Toledo. The Washington Examiner article asserts that Sheahan ordered 2,500 vehicles with the agency's name, logo and motto. If Sheahan had asked veteran agency officials first, she would have learned the agency does not use marked vehicles, it claims. The new marked vehicles are mostly unused and the agency has amended the order, the article says. A campaign spokesman for Sheahan issued a statement disputing the article. "Had the Washington click bait press bothered to ask, they would know the very simple fact that every ICE contract exceeding $100,000 must be authorized and signed by the ICE Director Todd Lyons," the statement said. "The Democrat campaign committee is pushing this fake news because they are desperate to smear the only Republican candidate that can beat Marcy Kaptur, and that candidate is Madison Sheahan." Lyons has served at ICE since 2007. The Washington Examiner article states that Sheahan did not respond to requests for comment. The Sheahan campaign disputes that and says Sheahan and her campaign were not contacted. Approaching the May primary Trump has not endorsed a candidate in the Republican primary for the Ninth District or made it clear whether he is planning an endorsement. The other candidates, in addition to Sheahan, are former state Rep. Derek Merrin of Monclova Township, state Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania, Alea Nadeem, Sylvania, a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard and an Air Force veteran, and Anthony Bruce Campbell, who lives in Groton Township in Erie County. None of the other candidates in the race had any comment on the Washington Examiner article. ICE did not respond to the Register's request for comment. The National Republican Campaign Committee has been attacking Kaptur for months. A spokesman says the group isn't taking sides in the GOP primary and will let voters pick the candidate. The Ninth District race is considered a key race in the national battle for control of the U.S. House, where Republicans currently hold a very small majority. Since she first won in 1982, Kaptur has never lost a re-election bid, but her 2024 victory was narrow and her district was redrawn again to tilt it more Republican.