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DHS denied a report that ICE officers had been told to arrest only people with criminal convictions or pending charges, saying: “No one is off the table. We will continue to arrest any and all illegal aliens that come into our path.” The report and denial were described in Breitbart’s Sept. 27, 2026 coverage, but the available material does not independently verify a new ICE directive or establish what instructions officers received.

What was reported—and what DHS said

Breitbart reported on Sept. 27, 2026, that DHS was denying a rumor that ICE was standing down on arrests of people without criminal records. Its account described an earlier report by The Daily Wire, citing agency sources, that officers had been told to focus only on people with criminal convictions or charges. The original Daily Wire report was not directly available for review, so the alleged instruction remains an attributed claim, not a confirmed policy change.

In the statement reproduced by Breitbart, DHS said: “No one is off the table. We will continue to arrest any and all illegal aliens that come into our path.” The report did not identify a named official who made the statement. DHS’s public denial establishes its stated position; by itself, it does not show what field officers may have been told.

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What remains unknown about the alleged change

The available account does not establish whether the reported instruction was a written directive, informal guidance, a temporary priority, or limited to particular offices. It also does not establish whether it was implemented or how arrest practices changed, if at all. Those distinctions matter: a change in enforcement priorities would not necessarily mean that other arrests were prohibited, while a categorical stand-down would be a stronger claim. The sources available here do not resolve which description, if either, fits the September report.

#1 Best Overall
Account What it says Evidence available
Reported instruction ICE officers were allegedly told to focus only on people with criminal convictions or pending charges. Attributed by Breitbart to an earlier Daily Wire report citing agency sources; the original report was not directly accessible.
DHS response “No one is off the table”; arrests would continue. Statement reproduced in Breitbart’s Sept. 27, 2026 account; no named speaker was identified.

What earlier arrest data can—and cannot—show

A Washington Post analysis published Dec. 28, 2025 offers context on ICE arrest patterns in an earlier period, not evidence of a September 2026 instruction. Using ICE records obtained by the Deportation Data Project and current through Oct. 15, 2025, the Post found that more than 60% of people detained in at-large arrests since June 2025 had no criminal convictions or pending charges.

The Post counted arrests categorized in records as “located,” “noncustodial,” and “worksite enforcement,” after filtering duplicate records. It reported about 17,500 at-large arrests in September 2025 and 67,800 in communities across the five months after the enforcement approach began taking shape in June 2025. These figures describe that dataset and period; they are not current 2026 totals and cannot verify the later allegation.

The Post also quoted DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin disputing its characterization of the data. She said DHS was targeting “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” naming murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists. Former ICE Director Sarah Saldaña, quoted in the same article, said that removing people without authorization was consistent with ICE’s mandate but called the approach a waste of resources. Their remarks reflect disagreement about the earlier data and its implications, not confirmation of the alleged 2026 guidance.

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A separate ICE vehicle-stop memo does not settle the arrest-priority claim

In October 2026, the Associated Press reported on separate ICE guidance restricting high-speed pursuits and setting training requirements for vehicle stops. That memo concerned vehicle-stop safety and procedure; it is not evidence that ICE changed arrest priorities in September. The AP also reported that ICE said vehicle stops and arrests continued under the guidance.

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