The Department of Homeland Security has denied a report that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were recently instructed only to arrest illegal immigrants with criminal histories.
The DHS insisted in a post to X over the weekend that federal immigration officers will arrest and detain illegal immigrants regardless of their criminal status, following a report that only the “worst of the worst” would be targeted nationwide.
“This is false,” the DHS wrote in a post late Saturday. “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,” the DHS stated.
The department’s public response came a day after a media report cited multiple ICE officers who claimed having been told only to arrest illegal immigrants with criminal charges or convictions moving forward.
Even illegal immigrants who have been ordered deported by an immigration judge but hold no criminal history would be exempt from arrest, according to the Daily Wire.
President Donald Trump vowed to go after the most dangerous illegal immigrants in the United States upon taking office and launching the nation’s “largest-ever” deportation operation.
However, White House border czar Tom Homan warned in late 2024 that collateral arrests would take place when ICE personnel pull over a suspected illegal immigrant while driving or at a business and encounter other people at the site. Those determined to be residing in the country illegally would also be taken into custody and face deportation.
It is not clear why some ICE officers were under a different impression.
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As of mid-2026, 70% of the roughly 65,000 illegal immigrants detained by ICE awaiting deportation proceedings in court as of July did not have a criminal conviction, according to court data analyzed by the Transnational Records Access Clearinghouse in Syracuse, New York.
ICE has operated under the Trump administration without a confirmed director. The federal agency has not had a Senate-confirmed leader since the end of the Obama administration, about 15 years ago.