USCIS Agents Can Make Arrests

The Trump administration said Thursday that it will add its own law enforcement officers with the ability to carry guns and make arrests to the agency that determines whether immigrants should be awarded citizenship and green cards. 

For U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which has been kept apart from making immigration arrests and carrying out deportations, the action represents a significant shift. The new regulation would allow USCIS to add “special agents” who “will be empowered to investigate, arrest, and present for prosecution those who violate America’s immigration laws,” the agency said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the statement, the Trump administration’s final regulation will go into effect 30 days after it is published.  The regulation gives Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem the authority to appoint agents with “other powers standard for federal law enforcement,” including the ability to make arrests, carry guns, and carry out search and arrest orders, according to a statement from USCIS.

Source: NBC News