WASHINGTON — In mid-May, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, frustrated over what he saw as numbers of arrests and deportations of unauthorized immigrants that were too low, berated and threatened to fire senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials if they did not begin detaining 3,000 migrants a day, according to two sources who spoke to attendees.
Miller also threatened to fire leaders of field offices posting the bottom 10% of arrest numbers monthly, the two sources said.
Weeks later, ICE is launching the Trump administration’s largest immigration crackdown.
“Operation At Large,” a nationwide, ICE-led plan already underway to ramp up arrests of unauthorized immigrants, includes more than 5,000 personnel from across federal law enforcement agencies and up to 21,000 National Guard troops, according to an operation plan described to NBC News by three sources with knowledge of the personnel allocations who detailed the previously unreported plans.
Drawing those numbers from other law enforcement agencies, though, has been a source of tension among some officials, who feel they have been taken off other core national security missions, according to three additional law enforcement and milit officials. It is the latest example of how President Donald Trump’s push for mass deportations is reshaping federal law enforcement as officials shift resources toward immigration-related cases — including nonviolent administrative offenses — leaving less time and attention for other types of criminal investigations.
The plan calls for using 3,000 ICE agents, including 1,800 from Homeland Security Investigations, which generally investigates transnational crimes and is not typically involved in arresting noncriminal immigrants; 2,000 Justice Department employees from the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration; and 500 employees from Customs and Border Protection. It also includes 250 IRS agents, some of whom may be used to provide information on the whereabouts of immigrants using tax information, while others would have the authority to make arrests, according to the operation plan.
The Department of Homeland Security has also requested the use of 21,000 National Guard members to provide support in ICE operations, according to two additional sources familiar with the request, though that number has yet to be approved by the Defense Department or by governors who would be deploying their state’s units, multiple sources cautioned.
The White House referred questions about Miller’s meeting with ICE leaders and about the ICE operation to DHS. Assistant Homeland Security Secret Tricia McLaughlin said, “Under Secret Noem, we are delivering on President Trump’s and the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe.”
More than a dozen current and former law enforcement sources described other changes inside federal law enforcement driven by the Trump administration’s focus on immigration. At the FBI, where it was once unusual for special agents to go on immigration-related law enforcement operations, according to multiple current and former law enforcement officials, field offices around the country have been ordered to assign significantly more agents to assist with ICE operations to arrest people on administrative immigration warrants. Misdemeanor cases for border crossings are regularly appearing in federal court, a rarity in recent years. Justice Department teams focused on other issues are being disbanded, with members being dispersed to teams focused on immigration and other administration priorities.
