Washington DC - President Donald Trump's administration is purging a range of top US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for not deporting enough people, reports suggest.

ICE officials in Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Diego are being purged and replaced with senior Customs and Border Patrol agents, sources told the Washington Examiner.

The overhaul began over the weekend, as the Trump administration moved to ramp up its mass deportation campaign, and is expected to ultimately affect at least 24 ICE field offices across the country.

According to officials, the Department of Homeland Security originally wanted to fire the directors of all five field offices, but instead chose to shuffle them into different roles after pushback from acting ICE Director Todd Lyons.

"The administration wanted all these guys fired and Todd stepped in and said, 'Let’s move them all to headquarters,'" one official told the Examiner.

The source shared a theory that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was pushing for the firings because she and other top department officials are unhappy with border czar Tom Homan.

"The mentality is CBP does what they're told, and the administration thinks ICE isn't getting the job done," another DHS official revealed to NBC. "So CBP will do it."

Trump has reportedly been happy with CBP's aggressive tactics, including the use of military equipment, and wants them replicated by ICE.

Approached for comment by the Daily Beast, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin denied that any such personnel changes had been made.

"While we have no personnel changes to announce at this time, the Trump administration remains laser focused on delivering results and removing violent criminal illegal aliens from this country," she said.