ICE agents directed to generally avoid deporting military veterans and their families

BY CAMILO MONTOYA-GALVEZ

The Biden administration has directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to generally refrain from seeking the deportation of U.S. military veterans or service members and their immediate family members, according to a directive published on Tuesday.

In a May 23 memo, interim ICE head Tae Johnson instructed the agency's deportation agents to consider prior U.S. military service as a "significant mitigating factor that weighs against" placing immigrants in deportation proceedings.

If an immigrant veteran is eligible for U.S. citizenship because of his or her service, ICE officials "should generally not take civil enforcement actions against the noncitizen, absent significant aggravating factors," Johnson wrote in his directive.