Department of Homeland Security Removes Limitations on Arrests in 'Protected Areas'

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a memo allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to make arrests at schools, churches, hospitals, and other formerly “protected areas.” Fox News (Right bias) received a draft of this memo and first reported it Tuesday morning.

Key Quotes: A DHS spokesperson said rolling back this limitation “empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens -- including murders and rapists -- who have illegally come into our country.” He went on to say the Trump administration trusts law enforcement officers to use “common sense” when making arrests.

The Context: The DHS first implemented policies protecting certain locations from ICE arrests in 2011, but added schools, health care facilities, places of worship, food banks, and others to the list of sensitive areas where ICE could not make arrests under the Biden administration in 2021. The policy reportedly aimed to help unauthorized migrants access essential services. 

How The Media Covered It: The Blaze (Right) focused on ways retracting the “protected areas” policy benefits ICE because it “unleashes ICE from Biden-era limitations.” It also made comments towards the “lax Biden rules” which “led to a historic surge of illegal immigrants.” An ABC News (Lean Left) headline said the policy allows ICE to “target” schools and churches. ABC also highlighted a portion of the memo which changes the language used to refer to these immigrants from “noncitizens” to “aliens” and “illegal aliens.”