In a revealing interview with CBS News, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Todd Lyons, emphasized that the agency will now detain anyone found residing in the United States without legal status, regardless of whether they have a criminal record. This broader enforcement posture also includes an intensified focus on businesses employing unauthorized immigrants.
Lyons explained that while ICE will prioritize its limited resources on apprehending undocumented individuals with serious criminal backgrounds, those he referred to as “the worst of the worst”, others without criminal histories will still face arrest when encountered during operations. He also criticized jurisdictions with so-called “sanctuary” laws, arguing these policies hinder ICE’s ability to apprehend individuals directly from local jails.
- “What’s, again, frustrating for me is the fact that we would love to focus on these criminal aliens that are inside a jail facility,” Lyons said during his first network interview on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. “A local law enforcement agency, state agency already deemed that person a public safety threat and arrested them and they’re in detention.”
He noted that instead of seamlessly taking custody of individuals already in detention, ICE agents are forced to operate in neighborhoods, which increases the number of “collateral arrests”, where individuals not originally targeted by the operation are detained solely for lacking legal immigration status.
- “I’d much rather focus all of our limited resources on that to take them into custody, but we do have to go out into the community and make those arrests, and that’s where you are seeing (that) increase” in so-called “collateral” arrests, Lyons added.
- “If ICE encounters someone that is here in the country illegally, we will take them into custody,” he said.
Expanded Scope and Renewed Deportation Goals
ICE’s ability to make broad immigration arrests was limited under the Biden administration, which issued directives focusing enforcement on serious criminal offenders, recent unlawful border crossers, and national security threats. However, those limitations were swiftly rescinded after President Trump assumed office for a second term in January, aligning with his hardline immigration agenda.
Under the new administration, ICE has received billions of dollars in additional funding from Congress, aimed at ramping up deportation efforts. The agency is reportedly under pressure to meet an ambitious benchmark of 3,000 arrests per day — a directive strongly supported by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
Lyons expressed cautious optimism about reaching the administration’s goal of 1 million deportations within a year, citing the fresh financial resources at their disposal. Internal government figures obtained by CBS News show that ICE has already conducted nearly 150,000 deportations within the first six months of Trump’s return to office.
From January 1 to June 24, ICE deported approximately 70,000 individuals with criminal convictions. However, many of these offenses were immigration- or traffic-related, according to CBS’s review of internal data.
While ICE frequently publicizes arrests involving serious charges — such as homicide or sexual assault — the agency has also faced intense public criticism over some of its enforcement tactics. These include agents wearing masks, arrests of asylum-seekers during court proceedings, and high-profile workplace raids.
- “ICE is always focused on the worst of the worst,” Lyons reiterated. “One difference you’ll see now is under this administration, we have opened up the whole aperture of the immigration portfolio.”
Focus on Employers: Worksite Raids and Accountability
Another hallmark of the renewed enforcement campaign is the resumption of large-scale worksite immigration raids — an approach that was curtailed under the Biden administration.
Recently, ICE conducted mass arrests at a variety of employment locations, including a Nebraska meatpacking facility, a Louisiana racetrack, and several cannabis farms in California. The California raids alone resulted in the detention of over 300 undocumented workers, including 10 minors.
Though the operations sparked concerns among business owners about labor shortages, a brief pause in farm, hospitality, and restaurant raids was lifted within days. President Trump has floated the idea of offering leniency to farmers relying on undocumented labor, but his administration has yet to announce a formal plan.
Lyons emphasized that the agency is not only targeting unauthorized workers but also companies that illegally hire them. He pointed out that such practices often coincide with more serious crimes like forced labor and child exploitation.
- “Not only are we focused on those individuals that are, you know, working here illegally, we’re focused on these American companies that are actually exploiting these laborers, these people that came here for a better life,” Lyons said.
When asked if ICE intends to pursue employers with the same determination as workers, he responded:“One hundred percent.”
Lyons confirmed that future worksite enforcement would rely on criminal warrants and target companies engaged in hiring practices that violate U.S. labor laws. He stressed that employing unauthorized workers is not a *“victimless crime”* and often masks deeper human rights abuses.
The Biden-era selective enforcement policies have been fully reversed under the second Trump administration. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons made it clear in his CBS interview that his agency will now cast a much wider net, arresting any undocumented immigrant encountered and holding employers accountable through aggressive workplace investigations.
Despite criticism and public concern, the administration is pushing ahead with its goal of 1 million deportations in a year, backed by substantial funding and expanded authority.
