Trump Admin Backtracks After Telling ICE Officers To Stop Arresting Non-Criminals

Verbal orders telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers around the country to quit arresting illegal immigrants with no criminal records, as reported by Daily Wire, prompted a rapid reversal by the Trump administration. Within hours, ICE let officers resume such arrests. The Department of Homeland Security wrote on X that the reports were "false" and that "no one is off the table," and said ICE has started a public safety surge in sanctuary cities targeting criminals. Yet a White House official acknowledged that certain officers had indeed been given the instruction.

Former officials offered competing explanations. Scott Mechkowski, a former deputy director of ICE's New York field office, said someone in communications garbled a directive meant to have officers handle criminal cases first, calling it prioritization rather than a policy change. John Sandweg, an acting ICE director during the Obama administration, similarly suggested a message about focusing on criminals may have been distorted as it moved down the chain. Luis Miranda, a former DHS official now a political strategist, rejected the miscommunication theory, pointing to reports of ICE firing unqualified hires and wasting tens of millions of dollars on detention facilities, and blamed White House political aides.

Alex Howard, who spoke for the Biden DHS, said the guidance resembled a memo from Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to prioritize the highest-risk cases, though the policies differ. Both Howard and Sandweg tied the reversal to the midterms, which Howard said are 36 days off.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Daily Wire’s reporting. Read the full story at Daily Wire →