(NewsNation) — Immigration officers are now allowed to enter locations like schools and churches to conduct raids and deport unauthorized migrants, one day after President Donald Trump took office and signed a series of executive orders on border security.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the sweeping changes to immigration enforcement policies Tuesday, rolling back Biden-era restrictions on law enforcement operations and limiting humanitarian parole programs.
Acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued two directives that remove restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operations in locations like schools and churches.
The second directive ends broad humanitarian parole programs in favor of case-by-case reviews, which previously allowed some migrants to enter the United States temporarily.
Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman said the changes will allow immigration agents to “enforce our immigration laws” more effectively. The department claims the previous administration had granted humanitarian parole to approximately 1.5 million migrants.
“The Biden-Harris Administration abused the humanitarian parole program to indiscriminately allow 1.5 million migrants to enter our country. This was all stopped on day one of the Trump Administration. This action will return the humanitarian parole program to its original purpose of looking at migrants on a case-by-case basis,” Huffman wrote in a press release.
Trump signed several executive orders dealing with immigration on Monday shortly after being sworn in for his second term in the White House. Part of Trump’s plans to declare a national emergency at the border includes sending military troops to the border to assist with enforcement as well as plans to expand the border wall.