FBI Abandons Stephen Miller’s Migrant Round-Up in Humiliating Blow
Key Shift in FBI Resources
The FBI has reassigned agents previously assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in immigration raids, returning them to counterterrorism and cybersecurity duties due to increased threats from Iran. This decision follows a mandate from Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, for ICE to make at least 3,000 migrant arrests daily, leading to the deployment of 2,000 agents from various agencies.
Reasons for the Shift
The shift in resources is directly attributed to heightened concerns regarding potential retaliation from Iran after the U.S. bombing. While the FBI statement avoided specifics, sources indicate that many agents temporarily embedded with ICE were pulled from counterterrorism and cyber monitoring. The incident has raised questions about the long-term impact on ICE’s daily arrest quota.
Political Implications
The move represents a setback for Stephen Miller’s initiative to increase immigration arrests. It also highlights the changing priorities of national security agencies in response to evolving threats.
- Agents initially assigned to support ICE operations are now focused on counterterrorism.
- The decision follows a period of increased tension with Iran.
- The effect of the resource shift on ICE's daily arrest goals remains unclear.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s push to have the FBI assist in the Trump administration’s migrant crackdown has been put on ice.
Instead of going on immigration raids, sources told Fox News and NBC News that the majority of FBI agents on immigration duty are now returning to traditional roles to thwart possible threats from Iran and its proxies.
The pivot back to counterterrorism will place FBI agents in a more traditional role. It comes a month after Miller mandated ICE make at least 3,000 migrant arrests a day in a heated meeting at its D.C. headquarters. NBC reported at the time that 2,000 agents from the FBI, DEA, and the Marshals Service were ordered to embed with ICE to boost arrest numbers. Many of those agents are now being pulled back to their day jobs.
Thousands of FBI agents were ordered to help Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with ICE operations. Now, they are being pulled back to their counterterrorism jobs. Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images “Guess they are realizing this whole national security thing is important, after all,” a source with direct knowledge of the matter told NBC.
The FBI wrote in a statement that it “does not comment on specific operational adjustments or personnel decisions.”
“However, we continuously assess and realign our resources to respond to the most pressing threats to our national security and to ensure the safety of the American people,” the statement added.
ABC News reported that many of the agents who were briefly ordered to work with ICE had been pulled from monitoring “counterterrorism and cyber issues.” Sources told the network that the FBI’s recall of a “couple thousand agents” is a direct result of the U.S. bombing of Iran, which has raised fears of retaliation stateside.
President Donald Trump announced Monday that Israel and Iran had reached a ceasefire. However, Iran trolled Trump later in the day and declared that its nuclear program, which Trump said was “obliterated” by U.S. bombers, will “resume without interruption.”
It is unclear if ICE’s daily quota arrests will be lowered now that it is losing a large swatch of support provided by the FBI.
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