The ‘Fish Cop’ Who Became A Top ICE Official Is Running For Congress

A top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official who was internally mocked as a “fish cop” for her past work leading a fish and wildlife department announced Thursday she was resigning and would challenge Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) in the 2026 midterm elections.

Madison Sheahan, a 28-year-old who was once the body woman of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, unveiled her bid for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District with a launch video heavily focused on her work as the deputy director of the increasingly unpopular agency.

“In less than one year at ICE, I’ve stopped more illegal immigration than Marcy Kaptur has in her 43 years in Washington,” Sheahan boasts at the start of the video, which features plentiful footage of her wearing bulletproof vests while out in the field and criticizes Kaptur for voting against the tax cuts and border wall funding included in the GOP’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill last summer.

Sheahan is not guaranteed the chance to challenge the 79-year-old Kaptur, who has stubbornly held onto her Toledo-based district even after a GOP-led gerrymander made it substantially more Republican in 2022 and 2024. (A further tweak to Ohio’s congressional map earlier this year made it even more GOP-friendly.)

The 28-year-old will first have to win a GOP primary against both former state Rep. Derek Merrin, who narrowly lost to Kaptur in 2024; Air National Guard Lt. Col. Alea Nadeem; and state Rep. Joe Williams, all of whom have raised at least $250,000 for their campaigns.

Kaptur has more than $1 million in her campaign account, according to Federal Election Commission records. In a statement, Kaptur’s campaign didn’t acknowledge Sheahan’s entrance into the race but bragged about her own credentials.

“While Republicans from near and far will fight through a messy primary in this district they gerrymandered again just this fall, Congresswoman Kaptur is focused on delivering real results for her constituents,” a spokesperson said. “Voters are tired of the self-dealing corruption and culture of lawlessness they’ve seen over the last year. They want a leader focused on affordability and real results, and Marcy Kaptur consistently works across the aisle to deliver both.”

Sheahan’s launch video highlights a youth spent working on her family’s farm in the district and doesn’t run away from her time leading Louisiana’s Wildlife and Fisheries Department, with Sheahan saying she “modernized a broken department.”

But her time at ICE makes up the core of the video, as Sheahan brags about hiring 12,000 agents and deporting 2.5 million immigrants. “Ohio neighborhoods are safer thanks to President Donald Trump and ICE,” Sheahan says.

A New York Magazine profile of Noem also included an interview with Sheahan, who acknowledged there were doubts about her internally at the agency because of her age and lack of law enforcement experience. But she had little doubt she could get the job done.

“I absolutely think I’m qualified for the job,” Sheahan told the magazine. “Because at the end of the day, what really makes anybody qualified for any job?”