ICE Agents Reportedly 'Shocked and Frustrated' After Verbal Guidance Orders to 'Scale Back' Arrests

ICE officers across the United States were reportedly given verbal guidance to limit some immigration arrests to people with criminal convictions or pending charges, triggering confusion and frustration inside the agency before the administration moved to clarify that its enforcement policy had not changed.

The dispute emerged over the weekend after The Daily Wire reported on 26 September that ICE officers had been told to stop arresting people without criminal convictions or charges. The report said the guidance would also end so-called 'collateral arrests', in which officers encounter other people unlawfully in the US while pursuing a specific target.

Fox News subsequently reported that nationwide verbal guidance had been distributed earlier in the week telling field offices to prioritise the 'worst first'. Bill Melugin, citing conversations with President Donald Trump and nine ICE and Department of Homeland Security sources, said some agents found the guidance 'shocking and frustrating'.

How the Guidance Caused Confusion

The Daily Wire cited anonymous ICE officers who said agents could temporarily arrest only people with criminal convictions or charges. It also reported that people with final deportation orders but no criminal convictions or charges would not be arrested under the guidance.

One source told the publication: 'We believe it has something to do with the midterms coming up.' The comment reflects that source's interpretation, rather than evidence that the 3 November elections prompted the guidance.

The reports came as ICE was operating at historically high arrest levels. The agency recorded 50,925 arrests in August, according to data provided by DHS, marking its third consecutive monthly record.

DHS Rejects a Policy Change

The Trump administration denied that ICE had been ordered to restrict arrests to people with criminal records.

Fox News reported on 27 September that officials described the confusion as stemming from internal discussions about prioritising serious offenders. Sources told the network the earlier directive was a 'miscommunication', rather than a formal change in policy.

DHS said there was 'no change in immigration enforcement policy'. The department also maintained that ICE would continue arresting undocumented immigrants without additional criminal histories, including people encountered during operations targeting someone else.

Trump separately told Fox News that ICE could still arrest and deport anyone who is in the country illegally.

'Collateral Arrests' at the Centre

The dispute has focused partly on collateral arrests, a longstanding feature of immigration enforcement in which agents can encounter additional people who are allegedly in the country unlawfully while carrying out an operation against another person.

The Daily Wire's sources said the reported guidance would have restricted that practice by allowing officers to detain only the intended criminal target. Fox News later reported that revised guidance reaffirmed ICE's ability to make collateral arrests.

That distinction matters because what officers reportedly heard in the field and what DHS says the administration's policy permits were not necessarily the same thing.

The Timing Has Drawn Attention

The reported guidance came as the administration faces a politically sensitive period ahead of the November midterm elections and amid intense scrutiny of its immigration enforcement campaign.

The Daily Wire cited one ICE source who linked the guidance to the elections, but neither that report nor the subsequent Fox News account established that the White House ordered the change because of the midterms.

Reuters reported earlier in September that ICE made nearly 51,000 arrests in August, with more than three-quarters of recent arrests involving people without criminal records. The figures, based on preliminary US government data, highlighted the scale of enforcement against people who were not convicted criminals.

No Formal Policy Reversal Reported

By Saturday evening, new guidance had reportedly been sent to ICE field offices to reaffirm that the administration's enforcement policy had not changed.

The result was a sharp contrast between the initial reports of a criminals-first restriction and the administration's subsequent insistence that officers retained broad arrest authority.

For ICE agents, the immediate issue was therefore less a confirmed policy reversal than uncertainty over how verbal instructions were being communicated and interpreted in the field.

The policy may not have changed. The confusion inside the agency, according to the reporting, clearly did.