Vance: ICE Prioritizes Criminals Amid Deportation Policy Shift
Vice President JD Vance addresses ICE directive changes, emphasizing criminal deportation priorities.
2 min read
Vice President JD Vance addressed recent reports about a directive instructing ICE agents to limit arrests to non-criminals, which was later rescinded. The directive, which was based on verbal orders given to ICE agents, marked a significant shift in the Trump administration’s deportation strategy. The Department of Homeland Security initially dismissed the report as false, insisting that no one is off the table for arrest. However, ICE later reversed its stance, allowing agents to continue detaining non-criminal illegal immigrants.
Vance Defends Deportation Prioritization
In an interview with Vince Coglianese, Vance confirmed that the directive was issued but clarified that the Trump administration is prioritizing criminals for deportation due to limited resources. He emphasized that while the directive focused on prioritizing violent criminals, the overall policy remains that all illegal immigrants should be deported.
“We have prioritized violent criminals because of fundamentally limited resources,” Vance said. “One of the things I’m proudest of is when we started, we looked at the problem. We had over 10 million illegal aliens who had come in under the Biden administration, and another 15 or 20 million already here. We said we need more people.”
Vance noted that since Trump’s return to the White House, ICE has hired over 12,000 new officers and received nearly $75 billion in additional funding. “It takes a long time to bring in, to train, to recruit the kind of people who can engage in the deportations we need,” he said. “But look, we’ve already gotten over 3 million people out in just 18 months.”
ICE Reverses Directive Amid Public Pressure
Hours after the directive became public, ICE gave officers the green light to continue detaining non-criminal illegal immigrants. The agency also announced a “nationwide public safety surge in sanctuary cities” to target “criminal illegal aliens,” including those released from jails by sanctuary politicians.
Vance reiterated that the directive was not a reflection of overall deportation policy but rather a strategic decision to allocate resources effectively. “Nobody who has come into the United States illegally should remain in the United States. That remains our policy,” he said.
Source: Daily Wire
