Madison Sheahan, the Deputy Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, holds a press conference at the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations building on Nov. 13, 2025, in Miramar, Florida. Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images via TNS
A deputy director of ICE, who is also an Ohio State alum, announced she is running for Congress in Ohio’s District 9.
Madison Sheahan, who has been with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, since last January, announced in a campaign video on Thursday, that she will resign her job to run for Congress for the district currently held by Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur.
“I’m a Trump conservative running for Congress to protect American jobs, American paychecks and American values,” Sheahan said in the video.
Sheahan graduated from Ohio State in 2019 with degrees in public affairs, agribusiness and public management, leadership and policy, according to her ICE biography. Sheahan has held various state government positions, worked with governors and served as the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries before joining ICE, her biography said.
Kristi Noem, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, appointed Sheahan to her deputy director role, as Sheahan had a previous role working for Noem in South Dakota. In a statement to CBS, Noem described Sheahan as a terrific leader and said that she will be a great defender of freedom when she goes to Congress.
Ohio State’s College Republicans did not respond in time for publication.
Josie Speakman, president of College Democrats and a third-year in political science, said she couldn’t think of somebody worse for the job.
“I think both as Buckeyes and Ohioans, we have a fundamental commitment to our communities that we need to fulfill,” Speakman said. “I think that somebody who has been in part responsible for perpetrating violence and terror against our communities is somebody whose values are in direct contradiction of Ohioans’ and Buckeyes’ values.”
Earlier this month, an ICE officer fatally shot a woman while in her car in Minneapolis. The incident caused partisan debate over the characterization of the shooting and has renewed scrutiny of ICE and its operations, according to AP News.
Kaptur has represented District 9, which includes Toledo, for 43 years and is the longest serving woman in the House of Representatives.
“I think Marcy Kaptur is certainly going to work her magic. I think she has a wonderful team who is going to do whatever they can to support her,” Speakman said.
In Sheahan’s campaign video, she said she has “stopped more illegal immigration than Marcy Kaptur has in her 43 years in Washington.”
In response, Speakman said that public servants are meant to consider the community they are representing, regardless of citizen status.
“It’s sort of horrifying to see this attitude, about frankly the terror and the violence that she’s helped perpetrate in our communities, and so it’s incredibly indicative, I think, of a lack of care and regard for our Ohio values and traditions,” Speakman said.
