Trump Administration Denies Pause on Non-Criminal Immigration Arrests
The Department of Homeland Security rejected reports that ICE stopped arresting non-criminal undocumented immigrants, calling such claims false while clarifying erroneous guidance sent to field offices.
The United States Department of Homeland Security rejected reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were instructed to stop arresting undocumented immigrants without criminal convictions. The dispute began after a report by The Daily Wire claimed ICE had ceased arrests of non-criminals and ended collateral arrests to focus exclusively on criminal targets.
While the department initially dismissed these claims as a false narrative, reports later confirmed that verbal guidance restricting arrests had been distributed to ICE offices. Administration officials characterized this guidance as an erroneous miscommunication regarding the prioritization of the worst offenders. President Donald Trump reaffirmed that his immigration enforcement agenda is not scaling back, and new guidance was issued to field offices to clarify that arrests of non-criminals and collateral targets will continue.
Concurrent with these denials, DHS highlighted a public-safety surge targeting serious crimes in sanctuary cities. However, the agency faced conflicting data from the Deportation Data Project, which suggested fewer than 20 percent of recent arrests in Oklahoma involved individuals with criminal convictions. Additionally, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has faced criticism from immigration hardliners after announcing that ICE would not conduct worksite operations in Kansas.
