Biden Guidelines Direct ICE to Focus on Immigrants Who Pose Safety Threat

“It gives ICE field agents a ton of discretion to follow their own instincts and inclinations, with few real constraints,” Ms. Graber said. “This is an agency that runs a detention system where people are abused, neglected, sexually assaulted, involuntarily sterilized, denied medical treatment and denigrated in countless ways. And now, who goes into that system is entrusted to their personal judgment.”

The agency has faced many complaints for its treatment of detainees. Mr. Mayorkas said there would be training for agents regarding the guidelines, and reviews of arrests.

The guidelines, which also prioritize arresting people who crossed the border illegally since November, follow months of meetings Mr. Mayorkas held around the country with ICE employees. “They’re the ones who live in the communities and understand how things work, in practice, in reality,” Mr. Mayorkas said in a September interview with The New York Times.

“We’ve had very, very candid discussions, back and forth conversations,” he said. “They’re not united.”

Thomas D. Homan, Mr. Trump’s first acting director of ICE, said he spoke with ICE agents on Thursday who told him that they were “disgusted.”

“They’re disgusted with it because they took an oath to enforce immigration law,” Mr. Homan said, “only for the secretary to say, ‘Well, you’re not going to enforce most of it.’”

He added that the guidelines would further entice migrants to cross the border illegally, at a time when crossings are already at a 20-year high. Republicans have raised similar concerns, and have pointed to a decrease in the number of arrests since Mr. Biden took office.

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