‘No one is off the table’: Trump admin denies report of ICE pausing arrests of non-criminal illegal migrants

DHS has dismissed a report that ICE officers were instructed to stop arresting illegal migrants who have no criminal convictions.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has dismissed a report that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were instructed to stop arresting illegal migrants who have no criminal convictions or pending charges, saying “no one is off the table.”The denial came after The Daily Wire reported on September 26 that ICE officers across the US had been told to stop arresting “non-criminals” for the time being. Citing agency sources, the report said ICE officers would instead focus on undocumented migrants with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.According to The Daily Wire, the reported guidance would also end so-called “collateral arrests”, in which ICE officers can detain other undocumented migrants encountered while pursuing a specific criminal target. Under the reported change, officers would arrest only the identified target.

DHS rejects report of ICE arrest restrictions

DHS disputed the report on Saturday, sharing The Daily Wire report on X and calling the claim false.“This is false. No one is off the table,” DHS said. The department added that ICE would continue to arrest people who are unlawfully present in the US.“Anyone in our country illegally will be arrested and deported,” DHS said, while describing its current operations as a nationwide public-safety surge in sanctuary cities.The department said ICE officers were targeting undocumented migrants accused or convicted of serious crimes, including murder, rape, child sexual offences and gang-related crimes.The conflicting accounts leave it unclear whether any temporary internal guidance was issued to ICE officers or whether enforcement practices changed at specific locations.

What The Daily Wire reported

The Daily Wire said its sources described an apparent change in instructions to ICE officers that would limit arrests to undocumented migrants with criminal convictions or pending charges.The report quoted one ICE officer as saying the change was aimed at “calming things down” ahead of the US midterm elections. Another officer reportedly expressed opposition to the alleged instruction. The claims about the elections were based on anonymous sources and were not confirmed by DHS.Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melugin separately said he had spoken to nine ICE and DHS insiders who described “verbal guidance” being sent to ICE offices to avoid arrests of non-criminal migrants.Melugin said the guidance was later described as erroneous, with the situation attributed to a miscommunication over a policy of prioritising serious criminal offenders.The reported development comes amid a broader intensification of immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump. DHS has continued to announce arrests of illegal migrants with criminal convictions, while ICE recorded more than 50,000 arrests in August, according to data previously shared by DHS with The Daily Wire.For now, DHS clarifies that ICE has not been instructed to take non-criminal undocumented migrants off the table and says immigration arrests will continue nationwide.