Debate over immigrant arrests exposes tension between White House and DHS

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When word of an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership call over the weekend leaked to media outlets, some Trump administration officials came to believe the agency planned to limit arrests of undocumented immigrants to those with criminal histories.

The perceived softening of the administration’s hardline stance to deport anyone in the country illegally set off President Donald Trump, who immediately sought to clear the record — telling a well-known correspondent at Fox News in a phone call that ICE would continue to arrest anyone in the country illegally, regardless of criminal history.

Behind the scenes, Trump also directed his anger toward Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, according to a source familiar with the incident and a source close to the White House.

While DHS, which oversees ICE, denies that any such directive was issued, the episode exposed the ongoing disconnect between the White House and the officials charged with carrying out Trump’s mass deportation campaign. And it comes weeks away from the midterm elections, as some Republicans have publicly and privately expressed unease over who the administration is taking into custody.

Immigration remains a key political issue for the White House ahead of the midterm elections, and administration officials have been sensitive to any potential changes in operations that appear to weaken the president’s approach to his mass deportation pledge.

Earlier this summer, Trump was furious over a pause on most vehicle stops conducted by ICE following fatal shootings in Texas and Maine. The decision to pause those stops, which Trump ultimately overturned, immediately received blowback from his political base, who believed it was a sign of the administration going soft on its immigration crackdown.

Mullin has repeatedly said that anyone in the country illegally may be eligible for removal. But the sources told CNN that he privately supports the shift away from what officials call “collateral arrests,” meaning people who may be in the vicinity of an operation or with a person on law enforcement’s radar.

The guidance verbally communicated on the weekend call with some ICE agents appeared to direct them to take a different approach to “collateral arrests” and instead focus on criminals, fueling confusion among the agents, according to three sources briefed on the call.

Mullin, a former GOP US senator from Oklahoma, took the helm of DHS just six months ago when Trump fired his predecessor, Kristi Noem.

While sources insisted there’s no indication that Mullin is at risk of losing his job, that episode reignited concerns among Homeland Security officials and sources close to the White House that Mullin isn’t in lockstep with the president.

“Mullin is definitely out of step with President Trump and the base on immigration,” one of the sources said.

In a statement to CNN, a Homeland Security spokesperson said: “We are all focused on delivering on the President’s mission to deport illegal aliens and are all the same page. Anyone who says otherwise is just trying to sow division and create an illusion of chaos.”

The spokesperson maintained that “no one is off the table,” adding that, “anyone in our country illegally will be arrested and deported.”

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement that Mullin “has helped deliver the most secure border in history and shattered ICE arrest records.”

“President Trump and Secretary Mullin will continue to carry out the agenda the American people voted for,” she added.

The administration’s arrest tactics and decision to increasingly arrest undocumented immigrants without criminal records has fueled criticism among some Republicans, most notably Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, who represents a heavily Hispanic district. She broke with the president in a recent campaign ad ahead of the midterms.

In her ad, Salazar pointed to statistics she said show that 50% of the people detained by ICE in July “had no criminal record.”

An uptick in ICE activity in southwest Kansas that drew concerns among the agricultural industry also prompted a response from Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who said in a statement last week that local law enforcement had not been “given advance notice or the level of cooperation we would expect from ICE’s enforcement and removal operations.”

“As a result, there have been mass disruptions to local communities and businesses,” he said, adding that he shared his concerns with DHS.

ICE picked up its immigration arrests over the summer. In August, ICE took around 51,000 people into custody, setting a new monthly high under the Trump administration. The previous high had been set just one month prior when the agency took more than 46,000 people into custody in July.

Since the start of the Trump administration, ICE has been under immense pressure from the White House to arrest hundreds of people daily and over time, cast a wider net of who’s eligible for arrest, beyond those who are public safety or national security threats.

In recent weeks, Mullin, who’s faced backlash from corners of the MAGA base for not being strong enough on immigration enforcement, has forcefully defended the administration’s crackdown, posting photos of deportation flights.

But multiple sources have told CNN that Mullin has had a hard time transitioning to his role. CNN previously reported that Mullin had expressed frustration with working under the close watch of the White House.

“Ultimately, Mullin is no longer a principal — he’s a staffer to the president,” one Trump adviser told CNN. “He’s had a hard time coming to terms with that, like many others before him.”

Mullin also saw his pick for director of ICE Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, abruptly pulled by the White House after his nomination stalled in the Senate. Mullin had chosen Schroyer after his first proposed pick for the role caused friction with some White House officials.

“We still have an acting director there and ICE’s mission doesn’t change. Lance is a very good man,” Mullin said in a Fox interview earlier this month. “The truth is the president gets to pick his team, and I support the president doing this. The White House decided to go a different way.”

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当周末移民和海关执法局内部领导层的一次电话会议的消息泄露给媒体后，一些特朗普政府官员开始相信该机构计划将逮捕非法移民的范围限制在有犯罪记录的人身上。

外界认为，政府在遣返非法入境者方面的强硬立场有所软化，这激怒了唐纳德·特朗普总统，他立即试图澄清事实——在与福克斯新闻一位知名记者的电话中，他表示，无论犯罪记录如何，美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）仍将继续逮捕任何非法入境者。

据一位熟悉此事的消息人士和一位接近白宫的消息人士透露，在幕后，特朗普还将怒火指向了国土安全部长马克韦恩·穆林。

尽管负责监管移民和海关执法局（ICE）的国土安全部否认曾发布过此类指令，但这一事件暴露了白宫与负责执行特朗普大规模驱逐行动的官员之间持续存在的脱节。而且，此事发生在距离中期选举仅几周之际，一些共和党人已公开或私下表达了对政府拘留对象选择的担忧。

在即将到来的中期选举中，移民问题仍然是白宫关注的一个关键政治议题，政府官员对任何可能削弱总统大规模驱逐出境承诺的行动变化都非常敏感。

今年夏天早些时候，在德克萨斯州和缅因州发生致命枪击事件后，美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）暂停了大部分车辆拦截行动，这激怒了特朗普。这项暂停行动的决定（尽管特朗普最终推翻了该决定）立即遭到其政治支持者的强烈反对，他们认为这是政府在打击移民问题上软化的一个迹象。

穆林曾多次表示，任何非法滞留美国的人都可能被遣返。但消息人士告诉CNN，他私下里支持取消官方所谓的“附带逮捕”，即逮捕那些可能出现在行动附近或与执法部门重点关注对象有联系的人。

据三位了解此次通话情况的消息人士透露，周末与一些 ICE 特工的电话会议中口头传达的指导意见似乎指示他们对“附带逮捕”采取不同的方法，转而专注于犯罪分子，这加剧了特工们的困惑。

穆林曾是俄克拉荷马州的共和党参议员，六个月前，特朗普解雇了他的前任克里斯蒂·诺姆，穆林接任国土安全部部长一职。

尽管有消息人士坚称没有迹象表明穆林有丢掉工作的风险，但这一事件再次引发了国土安全部官员和接近白宫的消息人士的担忧，他们认为穆林与总统的步调不一致。

一位消息人士称：“穆林在移民问题上的立场肯定与特朗普总统及其支持者不一致。”

国土安全部发言人在给CNN的一份声明中表示：“我们都专注于完成总统遣返非法移民的任务，我们的目标一致。任何持相反观点的人都只是想制造分裂，制造混乱的假象。”

发言人坚称“任何人都有可能被起诉”，并补充说，“任何非法滞留在我国的人都将被逮捕并驱逐出境”。

白宫发言人劳伦·比斯在一份声明中表示，穆林“帮助实现了历史上最安全的边境，并打破了美国移民及海关执法局的逮捕记录”。

她补充说：“特朗普总统和穆林部长将继续执行美国人民投票支持的议程。”

政府的逮捕策略以及越来越多地逮捕没有犯罪记录的非法移民的决定，引发了一些共和党人的批评，其中最引人注目的是代表一个拉丁裔人口众多的选区的佛罗里达州众议员玛丽亚·埃尔维拉·萨拉查。在最近的中期选举竞选广告中，她公开反对总统的立场。

萨拉扎尔在她的广告中指出，有统计数据显示，7 月份被美国移民及海关执法局拘留的人中有 50%“没有犯罪记录”。

堪萨斯州西南部移民执法局 (ICE) 的活动增多，引起了农业界的担忧，共和党参议员罗杰·马歇尔也对此作出了回应。他上周在一份声明中表示，当地执法部门“没有得到事先通知，也没有得到我们期望从移民执法局的执法和遣返行动中获得的合作水平”。

“因此，当地社区和企业受到了大规模的干扰，”他说道，并补充说他已向国土安全部表达了他的担忧。

今年夏天，美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）加大了移民逮捕力度。8月份，ICE拘留了约5.1万人，创下特朗普政府执政以来的单月新高。此前的最高纪录是7月份创下的，当时该机构拘留了超过4.6万人。

自特朗普政府上台以来，美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）一直承受着来自白宫的巨大压力，要求其每天逮捕数百人，并且随着时间的推移，扩大逮捕范围，将逮捕对象扩大到那些对公共安全或国家安全构成威胁的人之外。

最近几周，穆林因在移民执法方面力度不够而遭到MAGA支持者的强烈反对，他大力捍卫政府的打击行动，并发布了遣返航班的照片。

但多位消息人士告诉CNN，穆林在适应新角色方面遇到了困难。CNN此前报道称，穆林曾对在白宫严密监督下工作表示不满。

一位特朗普顾问告诉CNN：“归根结底，穆林不再是校长，他只是总统的幕僚。和之前的许多人一样，他很难接受这个事实。”

穆林提名的美国移民及海关执法局局长人选兰斯·施罗耶（Lance Schroyer）也遭遇了类似的命运。这位前俄克拉荷马州警官在参议院提名受阻后，白宫突然撤回了这一人选。此前，穆林最初提名的另一位人选与一些白宫官员产生了摩擦，因此他最终选择了施罗耶。

“我们仍然有一位代理局长，移民及海关执法局（ICE）的使命没有改变。兰斯是个非常优秀的人，”穆林本月初在接受福克斯新闻采访时表示。“事实上，总统有权挑选自己的团队，我支持总统这样做。但白宫决定采取不同的做法。”