The Department of Homeland Security says ICE agents remain authorized to arrest people who are in the country illegally, including those without criminal records, after conflicting internal guidance prompted reports that the administration had temporarily narrowed its enforcement policy.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security said Sunday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not adopted a policy exempting people without criminal records from immigration arrests, responding to reports that agents had received instructions to temporarily restrict enforcement to people with criminal convictions or pending charges.
The dispute emerged after The Daily Wire reported Saturday that ICE officers around the country had been told to stop arresting noncriminal immigration targets. Reporter Jennie Taer cited agency sources who said the instructions would also halt so-called collateral arrests, in which agents encounter other people who are in the country illegally while pursuing a specific target.
DHS responded publicly to the report shortly after midnight Sunday and rejected the assertion that people without criminal records had been removed from ICE enforcement.
“This is false,” the department said.
“No one is off the table. We will continue to arrest any and all illegal aliens that come into our path. Anyone in our country illegally will be arrested and deported. In an effort to protect American citizens, ICE has initiated a nationwide public safety surge in sanctuary cities where our brave officers will be targeting criminal illegal aliens—many released from jails by sanctuary politicians—including murderers, rapists, child predators, and gang members.”
Subsequent reporting indicated that some form of verbal instruction had, in fact, reached ICE field offices before DHS issued its denial, but administration officials described it as a misunderstanding rather than a change in policy.
Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin reported Sunday that he had spoken with President Donald Trump and nine ICE and DHS sources. According to Melugin, verbal guidance directing agents to prioritize the “worst first” had been distributed to ICE offices, alarming some officers who interpreted it as a restriction on arrests of people without criminal histories. Administration sources later characterized the instructions as a “miscommunication.”
New guidance was subsequently sent to field offices clarifying that ICE agents could continue making arrests of people without additional criminal histories, including collateral arrests, according to the reporting. Trump told Fox News that anyone in the United States illegally remained subject to arrest and removal.
The sequence leaves a distinction between what some agents said they initially received and the administration’s stated policy after the issue reached senior officials. DHS’s subsequent public position is that no category of people unlawfully present in the country has been categorically excluded from immigration enforcement.
The episode came as ICE has been making arrests at record monthly levels.
DHS reported that ICE arrested 50,925 people in August, surpassing the 50,208 recorded in July and 43,900 in June. August marked the third consecutive month in which ICE set a new monthly arrest record and the second consecutive month with more than 50,000 arrests.
“The hard-working men and women of DHS continue to break records as they defend the homeland and protect the American people,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said when the August totals were released.
Arrest totals and deportation totals, however, measure different stages of the immigration enforcement process.
Preliminary federal data reviewed by Reuters showed deportations averaging approximately 1,200 per day even as arrests approached 51,000 in August. One reason is that a growing portion of those arrested do not already have final removal orders, meaning their cases may require immigration proceedings before removal can occur. Legal challenges, limited flight capacity and restrictions imposed by receiving countries can also delay deportations.
The administration has separately cited much larger figures that combine formal removals with voluntary departures or “self-deportations.” DHS announced in September 2025 that more than 2 million people had either been removed or had left the United States on their own since Trump returned to office. That figure therefore should not be interpreted as 2 million formal ICE deportations.
The administration has also faced competing pressures over how aggressively ICE should conduct workplace enforcement.
Business groups representing industries dependent on immigrant labor have raised concerns about the effects of widespread immigration arrests on their workforces. DHS officials met during the summer with representatives of the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition, whose members include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and trade associations in industries that employ large numbers of immigrant workers. The meeting did not immediately produce a formal change in enforcement policy.
The administration has previously adjusted its approach to enforcement at farms, hotels and restaurants. Trump officials announced restrictions on some worksite operations in those sectors in 2025 amid concerns about economic disruption, although worksite enforcement has continued in other industries and the administration has repeatedly shifted instructions concerning where agents should focus their efforts.
Mullin has meanwhile addressed the tension between immigration enforcement and employers’ demand for workers, arguing that businesses should rely on legal immigration programs rather than unauthorized labor. His public discussion of immigration and workforce policy has occurred as some governors and business groups have sought additional legal avenues for employers to obtain workers.
The administration has maintained that people with serious criminal records remain its highest enforcement priority, while also insisting that lack of a criminal conviction does not by itself shield someone who is unlawfully present from arrest.
That distinction is significant because recent ICE arrest data show enforcement reaching well beyond people convicted of crimes. Reuters reported that more than three-quarters of recent arrests involved people without criminal convictions, based on preliminary government data and information obtained through the Deportation Data Project.
The disagreement that surfaced Saturday therefore appears to have involved how agents were supposed to prioritize cases rather than a lasting change in the legal scope of immigration enforcement.
By Sunday, Trump, DHS and ICE sources cited in subsequent reporting were aligned publicly on the policy: agents may prioritize people accused or convicted of serious crimes, but they remain authorized to arrest others they encounter who are subject to immigration enforcement.
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