Washington: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will arrest anyone found living in the country unlawfully, regardless of their criminal history or lack thereof, and is ramping up enforcement against employers hiring unauthorized workers, the agency's acting director, Todd Lyons, said Sunday.

According to Anadolu Agency, under orders from the Trump administration, ICE has reinstated wide-ranging immigration enforcement policies, including so-called collateral arrests-detaining non-criminal undocumented immigrants found during broader operations-which had been curtailed during the Biden era. Lyons expressed frustration, saying, 'What's, again, frustrating for me is the fact that we would love to focus on these criminal aliens that are inside a jail facility.' He noted that states and cities with sanctuary policies refusing to hand over noncitizen inmates force ICE agents to go into neighborhoods.

In the first half of 2025, ICE deported nearly 150,000 people, including around 70,000 with criminal convictions, many of which were minor, according to internal government data obtained by CBS News. Lyons did not rule out reaching the administration's target of 1 million deportations this year, citing a recent multi-billion-dollar boost in congressional funding. 'ICE is always focused on the worst of the worst,' Lyons said. 'One difference you'll see now is under this administration, we have opened up the whole aperture of the immigration portfolio.'

He also confirmed the agency has resumed large-scale worksite raids, including recent operations at a Nebraska meat plant, a Louisiana racetrack, and California cannabis farms, where over 300 unauthorized workers were arrested, including minors. ICE will now prioritize not only the arrest of undocumented workers but also the prosecution of the companies hiring them. Lyons emphasized, 'Not only are we focused on those individuals...we're focused on these American companies that are actually exploiting these laborers.' When asked if employers will be held accountable, he responded: 'One hundred percent.'