By Ginika Igboke
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday directing federal agencies to expand the sharing of criminal records in an effort to identify and remove criminal illegal aliens from the United States.
The order requires the Department of Justice to grant the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) full access to federal criminal history information to strengthen immigration screening, vetting, and border enforcement. The move aligns with Trump’s 2024 campaign pledge to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
Titled “Protecting the National Security and Welfare of the United States and Its Citizens From Criminal Actors and Other Public Safety Threats,” the order emphasizes DHS’s responsibility to stop dangerous goods, narcotics, and firearms from entering the country and to detect and respond to terrorism, drug trafficking, and human smuggling.
To fulfill those responsibilities, the order states that DHS immigration authorities must have access to criminal history records held by other federal agencies.
“The Attorney General shall provide DHS with access … to the maximum extent permitted by law,” the directive reads.
Trump also instructed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to exchange criminal history information with countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program and with other trusted allies. The information would be used solely to screen travelers and immigrants seeking to enter or remain in the United States.
Any sharing of records with foreign governments must be based on reciprocity and governed by bilateral or multilateral agreements that include safeguards to protect the privacy of U.S. citizens, according to the order.
The directive is part of a broader administration push to expand interagency data sharing. In late December 2025, a federal judge ruled that the administration could continue sharing certain Medicaid data—such as basic biographical, location, and contact information—with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
On Dec. 10, 2025, DHS announced that more than 2.5 million illegal immigrants had left the United States since the start of Trump’s second term. Of those, more than 605,000 were deported through enforcement actions, while roughly 1.9 million voluntarily self-deported.
“Illegal aliens are hearing our message to leave now,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said at the time. “They know if they don’t, we will find them, we will arrest them, and they will never return.”
The administration faced a setback on Feb. 5, when a federal judge temporarily blocked DHS from using certain IRS information, including addresses, for immigration enforcement.
Trump signed several other executive orders and presidential actions Friday, including measures to expand commercial fishing in the Atlantic, establish an “America First” arms transfer strategy, rescind a tariff imposed on India over its purchases of Russian oil, and advance additional policy initiatives.
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