US immigration agency denies halting arrests of non-criminal migrants
Department of Homeland Security states 'no one is off the table' after a report suggested a pause.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
An ICE agent looks on as an individual is detained outside a home in Danbury, Connecticut, US, on August 27 2026. / Reuters Archive
Photograph: TRT World (embedded from source)
What this story says
- US immigration officers were reportedly instructed to stop arresting non-criminal immigrants, according to The Daily Wire.
- The Department of Homeland Security denied these reports, stating 'no one is off the table' and that ICE will continue arresting unlawfully present individuals.
- The conflicting accounts leave it unclear if any temporary internal guidance was issued or if enforcement practices changed in specific locations.
- The dispute arises amid intensified ICE enforcement and expanded deportations under the Trump administration.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 8 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 1 of the 9 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
42/100
Craft
65/100
Hype
41/100
9 sources · methodology
Thin on the left so far
None of the 8 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
A report published by The Daily Wire claimed that US immigration officers had been instructed to halt arrests of immigrants without criminal records and to end 'collateral arrests'. Collateral arrests occur when officers encounter other undocumented immigrants while pursuing a specific criminal target.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has denied these claims. In a statement, DHS said, 'No one is off the table' and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would continue arresting individuals present in the US unlawfully. The department stated that anyone in the country illegally would be arrested and deported.
Conflicting accounts on enforcement guidance
The Daily Wire report, citing agency sources, suggested a temporary change in enforcement instructions that would have limited arrests to those facing criminal charges or with criminal convictions. These sources also claimed the change would end collateral arrests. However, DHS disputed this characterisation, highlighting what it described as a nationwide public-safety surge and stating ICE officers are targeting people accused or convicted of serious crimes. The conflicting accounts mean it is unclear whether any temporary internal guidance was issued or if enforcement practices changed in specific locations.
What the coverage left out
None of the centre or right-rated reports mention the claim from The Daily Wire report, as cited by Hindustan Times, that some ICE officers believed the alleged change could be connected to the approaching US midterm elections. This claim came from anonymous sources and was not confirmed by DHS.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 9 times, most recently on 27 Sept 2026, 17:30, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated left has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Centre
3 rated outlets
- Centre-rated reports from TRT World, Hindustan Times, and Newsweek focused on the denial by the Department of Homeland Security. Hindustan Times and Newsweek both highlighted the DHS statement that 'no one is off the table'. TRT World's headline stated that US immigration officers were instructed to halt arrests of non-criminal immigrants, but its report also included the DHS denial. Hindustan Times provided the most detail, explaining the initial report from The Daily Wire and the subsequent DHS rebuttal, noting the conflicting accounts meant the situation was unclear.
Right
5 rated outlets
- Right-rated reports from khbrknews, NYTimespost.com, Fox News, Times of India, RedState, and BizToc led with the Trump administration's reaffirmation of its ICE arrest policy and denial of reports suggesting a pause. Headlines from khbrknews, NYTimespost.com, and Fox News stated that Trump 'reaffirms ICE arrest policy after confusing guidance sparks alarm among agents'. These reports consistently stated that the Trump administration denied reports that ICE agents were told to limit arrests to illegal immigrants with criminal records, asserting that deportation policy had not changed. RedState's headline claimed 'Trump Sets Record Straight on Viral Report ICE No Longer Deporting Unless They're 'Criminal Aliens''. BizToc's digest also noted the DHS denial and the 'no one is off the table' statement.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover US immigration agency denies halting arrests of non-criminal migrants?
- Of the 8 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 0% are rated left, 37% are rated centre, 63% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 9. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is US immigration agency denies halting arrests of non-criminal migrants left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 8 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of US immigration agency denies halting arrests of non-criminal migrants biased?
- US immigration agency denies halting arrests of non-criminal migrants is one event reported by 9 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting US immigration agency denies halting arrests of non-criminal migrants?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered US immigration agency denies halting arrests of non-criminal migrants?
- 9 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What was the initial report about US immigration arrests?
- The Daily Wire reported that US immigration officers were instructed to halt arrests of non-criminal immigrants and to end 'collateral arrests', where other undocumented immigrants are encountered during operations.
- How did the Department of Homeland Security respond to the report?
- The Department of Homeland Security denied the report, stating 'no one is off the table' and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would continue arresting unlawfully present individuals in the US.
- Is it clear whether enforcement practices have changed?
- No, the conflicting accounts mean it is unclear whether any temporary internal guidance was issued to ICE officers or if enforcement practices changed in specific locations.
Read it at the source
9 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Centre
3- US immigration officers instructed to halt arrests of non-criminal immigrants: report (opens TRT World in a new tab)
- DHS denies change of ICE strategy: ‘No one is off the table’ (opens Newsweek in a new tab)
- ‘No one is off the table,’ says Trump government rejecting report of ICE pause on arrests of non-criminal immigrants (opens Hindustan Times in a new tab)
Hindustan Times — is Hindustan Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
Right
5- Trump reaffirms ICE arrest policy after confusing guidance sparks alarm among agents (opens khbrknews in a new tab)
- Trump reaffirms ICE arrest policy after confusing guidance sparks alarm among agents - NEW YORK TIMES POST (opens nytimespost.com in a new tab)
nytimespost.com — is nytimespost.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Trump reaffirms ICE arrest policy after confusing guidance sparks alarm among agents (opens Fox News in a new tab)
- ‘No one is off the table’: Trump admin denies report of ICE pausing arrests of non-criminal illegal migrants (opens Times of India in a new tab)
Times of India — is Times of India biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Trump Sets Record Straight on Viral Report ICE No Longer Deporting Unless They're 'Criminal Aliens' (opens RedState in a new tab)
Not rated
1How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
