A top official in the Trump administration has authorized immigration officers to make arrests at schools and churches.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued a directive on Monday that rescinds guidelines that barred federal officers from arresting illegal immigrants at so-called sensitive places, including schools, churches, and food banks.
The guidelines were released in 2021 during the Biden administration. While churches and schools had been off-limits for immigration-related arrests since 2011, Biden administration officials expanded the list of prohibited places to other settings such as food banks, homeless shelters, and playgrounds.
“We can accomplish our enforcement mission without denying or limiting individuals’ access to needed medical care, children access to their schools, the displaced access to food and shelter, people of faith access to their places of worship, and more,” then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at the time.
The guidelines covered officers with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), both of which are within the Department of Homeland Security.
Rescinding the guidelines “empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens—including [murderers] and rapists—who have illegally come into our country,” Huffman said in a Jan. 21 statement. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
A second directive stopped the broad use of humanitarian parole, which the previous administration had used for millions of illegal immigrants. Parole will now be granted on a case-by-case basis, officials said.
Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, said on Tuesday that deportation operations have already started.
“ICE teams are out there as of today,” he said.
‘Revolution of Common Sense’
Trump has vowed to carry out mass deportations of illegal immigrants. After taking office on Monday, he signed multiple executive orders related to immigration, including declaring a national emergency at the U.S.–Mexico border and clarifying that U.S. policy aims to prevent illegal entry, remove all illegal immigrants, and pursue criminal charges against those who facilitate their presence.
