DHS Immigration Enforcement Priorities

In 2014, the Secretary of Homeland Security announced a number of measures to strengthen and unify the Department’s immigration enforcement priorities by concentrating resources on the arrest, detention, and removal of individuals identified as posing a threat to national security, public safety, or border security. The 2014 priorities emphasized criminal convictions over criminal arrests, and focused on felonies and significant or multiple misdemeanors over minor infractions of the law. The priorities also focused on forward-looking efforts to further reduce unlawful migration by targeting recent border crossers and those who significantly abuse the visa system.