Trump unleashes ICE from Biden-era limitations on nabbing illegal aliens at ‘protected areas,’ including churches and schools

The Department of Homeland Security released a memo ending limitations on Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions at “protected areas” that include churches and schools.

The rule imposed by former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas under the Biden administration restricted enforcement actions in order to make sure migrants weren’t discouraged from accessing “essential services” or engaging in “essential activities.”

The previous memo said that ICE enforcement must take into account ‘broader societal interests.’

The new DHS memo has instead called on ICE agents to use their common sense when enforcing immigration law.

“Going forward, law enforcement officers should continue to use that discretion along with a healthy dose of common sense,” read the memo. “It is not necessary, however, for the head of the agency to create bright line rules regarding where our immigration laws are permitted to be enforced.”

Fox News reported that ICE agents told them the new rules would allow them to deport more illegal aliens because they were using the Mayorkas rule in order to avoid deportation by hiding out in churches and other “protected” areas.

The rescinded Mayorkas rule was implemented in 2021 and added schools, universities, and health care facilities to the list of protected areas, as well as places of worship, social service establishments, and food banks. The memo said that ICE enforcement must take into account “broader societal interests.”

A separate DHS memo also criticized the Biden administration and others for abusing humanitarian parole to allow hundreds of thousands of migrants into the U.S. from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The department said that the humanitarian parole was meant to be applied on a case-by-case basis and not to make “aliens presumptively eligible on the basis of some set of broadly applicable criteria.”

The memos were sent out after Trump was inaugurated and signed several executive orders to restrict illegal immigration after lax Biden rules led to a historic surge of illegal immigrants into the U.S.

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