The Trump administration is empowering law enforcement agents across the Department of Justice (DOJ) with immigration enforcement authorities.
A new directive from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is granting members from across the federal government many of the same powers as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, according to a memo obtained by CBS News. The directive applies to agents working within the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
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These law enforcement officials — along with “any other employee” of the DOJ who obtains approval — are authorized to investigate and apprehend foreign nationals living unlawfully in the United States, according to the memo. The administration further noted that FBI officials already possess immigration-arresting authority.
The DHS directive is just one of many actions the Trump administration has taken to bolster immigration enforcement immediately upon entering office.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, granting him greater authority to address the illegal immigration crisis that began under the previous administration. The Department of Defense has since confirmed it will be utilizing its aircraft to deport roughly 5,000 illegal migrants and the military is deploying troops at the southern border to assist Customs and Border Protection stem the flow of illegal migration.
The administration has also quickly instituted reforms within ICE in order to give deportation officers fewer roadblocks to conduct enforcement actions.
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DHS announced a directive Tuesday that expands expedited removal — a policy that allows immigration enforcement officials to quickly remove illegal migrants from the country by bypassing the immigration court process — from 100 miles within an international border to anywhere within the U.S. In another directive handed down Tuesday, ICE agents will no longer be prohibited from conducting activities in so-called sensitive locations, areas such as churches or schools where agents were previously not allowed to apprehend migrants.
The DHS memo follows the creation of a task force within the DOJ — known as the Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group — that is assigned to identify state and local laws or policies that are “inconsistent” with federal immigration initiatives and, when necessary, challenging those laws in court.
A DHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation about the memo.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.