ICE Field Offices Get, Then Lose, Verbal Order to Stop Arresting Immigrants Without Criminal Records

ICE officers nationwide received verbal guidance over the weekend of Saturday, September 26, 2026 — first reported by The Daily Wire's Jennie Taer — instructing them to arrest only undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions or pending charges 'for the time being,' effectively ending so-called 'collateral arrests' of bystanders encountered during operations targeting someone else. Agents described being 'shocked and frustrated' by the order, according to Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, who said none of the nine ICE and DHS sources he spoke with could identify who originated it. New guidance reversing the order went out to field offices Saturday evening, with officials characterizing the episode as a 'miscommunication' during internal conversations about prioritizing 'worst first' rather than an actual policy change. DHS posted on X: 'This is false. No one is off the table. We will continue to arrest any and all illegal aliens that come into our path.' President Trump told Fox News that ICE 'can still arrest and deport anyone who is in the country illegally,' confirming arrests of non-criminal immigrants, including collaterals, would continue.