Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers carrying out the Trump administration’s crackdown in Minnesota have been ordered not to engage with “agitators” and focus on arresting migrants with criminal records in an apparent focus switch, according to a report.
A top ICE official shared the new guidance in an email obtained by Reuters following the deaths of two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, at the hands of federal law enforcement during clashes in Minneapolis.
“We are moving to targeted enforcement of aliens with a criminal history,” the official said, according to the news agency. “This includes arrests, not just convictions. ALL TARGETS MUST HAVE A CRIMINAL NEXUS.”
Under former President Joe Biden, the administration ordered ICE to focus on serious criminals, a policy that was rescinded by President Donald Trump, allowing agents to arrest non-criminals without restrictions.
The new guidance states officers can run license plate checks for possible targets and should make an arrest “if the registered owner of the vehicle is an immigrant with a criminal history,” the outlet reports.
The Trump administration maintained it is targeting “the worst of the worst” in its anti-immigration operation, but ICE data for January showed that nearly 43 percent of detainees had no criminal convictions or charges.
ICE officers have also been issued orders not to engage with protesters in Minnesota, marking a departure from the chaotic scenes of clashes in cities over the last year under the leadership of Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino.
“DO NOT COMMUNICATE OR ENGAGE WITH AGITATORS,” the official said in the email, according to the news agency. “It serves no purpose other than inflaming the situation. No one is going to convince the other. The only communication should be the officers issuing commands.”
A White House official told Reuters that the guidance was not final.
“There are ongoing conversations on how to most effectively conduct operations in Minnesota,” the official said. “No guidance should be considered final until it is officially issued.”
ICU nurse Pretti, 37, was gunned down by two Border Patrol agents Saturday, and the Department of Homeland Security was quick to claim that he had been armed and “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
Footage began circulating that contradicted the claim and the public appeared to widely dispute the administration’s official line. It prompted Trump to make a change in how his administration was handling the immigration surge in the state.
“He saw it wasn’t playing well,” a Republican lawmaker told NBC News. “The visuals were not playing well. He understands TV… He saw it for himself.”
Trump sent Bovino back to California and announced his border czar Tom Homan would be deployed to Minnesota.
At a Thursday press conference, Homan acknowledged “certain improvements could and should be made” to how the operation was being carried out on the ground.
“No agency is perfect,” he said, but added, “We are not surrendering the president’s mission.”
