FBI ordered to prioritise immigration, as DOJ scales back white collar cases
By
Sarah N. Lynch
, CNN
File image.
Photo:
AFP / Ricardo Arduengo
The FBI ordered agents on Monday to devote more time to immigration enforcement and scale back investigating white-collar crime, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters, as the Justice Department issued new guidance on what white-collar cases will be prioritised.
In a series of meetings, FBI agents were told by their field offices they would need to start devoting about one third of their time to helping the Trump administration crack down on illegal immigration.
Pursuing white-collar cases, they were told, will be deprioritised for at least the remainder of 2025, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Reuters could not immediately determine how many field offices were informed of the change, or whether it would apply to agents across the country.
An FBI spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
The orders came on the same day that Matthew Galeotti, the head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, issued new guidance to prosecutors that scales back the scope of white-collar cases historically pursued by the department and orders prosecutors to "minimize the length and collateral impact" of such investigations.
Immigration enforcement has largely not been the purview of the Justice Department's law enforcement agencies in the past.
But as President Donald Trump has stepped up an immigration crackdown, thousands of federal law enforcement officials from multiple agencies have been enlisted to take on new work as immigration enforcers, pulling crime-fighting resources away from other areas.
Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi have also previously announced they will scale back efforts to prosecute certain kinds of white-collar offenses, including public corruption, foreign bribery, kleptocracy and foreign influence.
As part of those efforts, the Criminal Division has also been reviewing corporate monitorships that companies were required to install as a condition of settling criminal cases. Several of them have since been ended early, while others have continued.
In Monday's memo, Galeotti laid out the categories of cases that will be prioritized to include health care fraud, trade and customs fraud, elder securities fraud, complex money laundering including "Chinese Money Laundering Organizations," and cases against financial gatekeepers who enable terrorists, transnational criminal organisations and cartels, among others.
He said the department will also update its whistleblower award pilot program to encourage tips on cases that lead to forfeiture, such as those involving cartels and transnational criminal organisations, violations of federal immigration law, corporate sanctions offenses, procurement fraud, trade, tariff and customs fraud, and providing material support to terrorists.
The memo also instructs prosecutors to carefully consider whether corporate misconduct "warrants federal criminal prosecution".
"Prosecution of individuals, as well as civil and administrative remedies directed at corporations, are often appropriate to address low-level corporate misconduct and vindicate US interests," the memo says.
It also orders prosecutors to only require companies to hire independent monitors if they cannot be expected to implement a corporate compliance program "without such heavy-handed intervention."
-
Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
35 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Los Angeles police order immigration protesters downtown to go home
By Jane Ross , Reuters Protesters with a Mexican flag face off with Sheriff deputies during a protest following federal immigration operations in Los Angeles, California, on 8 June, 2025. Photo: RINGO CHIU / AFP Los Angeles braced for another day of unrest on Monday (local time) over President Donald Trump's immigration policies, after police declared the city's downtown an unlawful assembly area and ordered protesters to go home. California officials pushed back at the deployment of National Guard troops by the White House, saying they were unnecessary and had only inflamed the situation. Governor Gavin Newsom vowed to sue the federal government. "This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted. He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard," Newsom posted on X on Monday. "We're suing him." Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass blamed the Trump administration for inciting tension by sending in the Guard. She also condemned protesters after some burned cars and hurled bottles at police. "I don't want people to fall into the chaos that I believe is being created by the administration completely unnecessarily," Bass told a press conference on Sunday. The unrest in Los Angeles has become a flashpoint in Trump's signature effort to clamp down on illegal immigration. The Republican president has pledged to deport record numbers of people who are in the country illegally and to lock down the US-Mexico border, setting the ICE border enforcement agency a daily goal of arresting at least 3000 migrants. Los Angeles police said some protesters had thrown concrete projectiles, bottles and other items at police. Police declared several rallies to be unlawful assemblies and later extended that to include the whole downtown area. Several self-driving cars from Alphabet's Waymo were set ablaze on a downtown street on Sunday evening. Police on horseback tried to control the crowds. Some officers used flash-bang grenades and tear gas, CNN reported. Demonstrators shouted "Shame on you!" at police and some appeared to throw objects, video images showed. One group blocked the 101 Freeway, a downtown thoroughfare. City Police Chief Jim McDonnell told a media briefing on Sunday evening that people had a right to protest peacefully but the violence he had seen by some was "disgusting" and the protests were getting out of control. Police said they had arrested 10 people on Sunday and 29 the previous night, adding arrests were continuing. Vanessa Cardenas, head of the immigration advocacy group America's Voice, accused the Trump administration of "trumping up an excuse to abuse power, and deliberately stoke and force confrontations around immigration." In response to California's threat to sue the government, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X that "Newsom did nothing as violent riots erupted in Los Angeles for days." Asked if the National Guard was needed, Police Chief McDonnell said police would not "go to that right away," but added, "Looking at the violence tonight, I think we've got to make a reassessment." In a social media post, Trump called on McDonnell to do so. "He should, right now!!!" Trump added. "Don't let these thugs get away with this. Make America great again!!!" The White House disputed Newsom's characterisation of Trump inflaming the situation, saying in a statement, "Everyone saw the chaos, violence and lawlessness." Earlier on Sunday, about a dozen National Guard members, along with Department of Homeland Security personnel, pushed back a group of demonstrators outside a federal building in downtown Los Angeles, video showed. The US Northern Command said 300 members of the California National Guard had been deployed to three spots in the Los Angeles area. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CBS program "Face the Nation" that the National Guard would provide safety around buildings to people engaged in peaceful protest and to law enforcement. The Trump administration's immigration enforcement measures have also included residents who are in the country legally, some with permanent residence, spurring legal challenges. In a social media post on Sunday, Trump called the demonstrators "violent, insurrectionist mobs" and said he was directing his cabinet officers "to take all such action necessary" to stop what he called riots. Despite Trump's language, he has not invoked the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law that empowers a president to deploy the US military to suppress events such as civil disorder. Asked on Sunday whether he was considering doing so, he said, "It depends on whether or not there's an insurrection." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Saturday the Pentagon is prepared to mobilise active-duty troops "if violence continues" in Los Angeles, saying Marines at nearby Camp Pendleton were on high alert. - Reuters
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
As it happened: National Guard on ground at Los Angeles immigration protests
California National Guard arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday (US time), deployed by President Donald Trump after two days of protests by hundreds of demonstrators against immigration raids carried out as part of Trump's hardline policy. It's the first time 55 years that a president has deployed a National Guard without a request by a state governor. Look back at what happened during the day with RNZ's liveblog: Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
10 hours ago
- RNZ News
What's happening in LA? Trump's controversial immigration crackdown explained
By Elissa Steedman for ABC News Police and protesters face off on the streets of LA. Photo: ETIENNE LAURENT US President Donald Trump deployed 2000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles streets on Saturday night. The extraordinary measure is the latest escalation in a tense immigration debate the nation has been grappling with since before the election. Here's a look at what's happening in Los Angeles and what led to the protests. Photo: ETIENNE LAURENT In short, protests are continuing in Los Angeles for a third straight day. You might have heard them being referred to as ICE protests on social media. They began on Friday after immigration agents from ICE made dozens of arrests across the city over alleged immigration violations. On Sunday, 300 national guard troops were also deployed to guard a federal detention centre in downtown Los Angeles where those arrested were being held. Photo: AFP / Frederic J Brown ICE, which stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is a law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security. It is responsible for enforcing the country's immigration laws. Photo: ETIENNE LAURENT It is not uncommon for ICE to arrest people it believes are in the US illegally. But this spate of arrests comes as part of the Trump administration's controversial immigration crackdown. Trump has vowed to deport record numbers of illegal immigrants during his second term, and the White House has set ICE a goal to arrest at least 3000 migrants each day. Because of that pressure, people who were legally living in the US have been caught up in ICE raids. One of the more notable cases was the arrest of 238 men accused of being Venezuelan gang members, who were not given a day in court before they were deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador. The arrest raids were also carried out in a public manner, which Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said would "sow terror" in the community. They occurred at a hardware store, where street vendors and day labourers were swept up, a garment factory and a warehouse. "I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Bass said in a statement. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. "We will not stand for this." Photo: ROBYN BECK Securing the border was one of Trump's key election promises. During the presidential campaign, he argued illegal immigrants were responsible for a crime wave and described people who cross illegally into the US as "animals" who are "poisoning the blood" of the nation. While he was able to point to a handful of high-profile crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants, there was no data publicly available to verify the claim. Data from Texas, the only state that tracks crimes by immigration status, shows considerably lower felony arrest rates among people in the US illegally, compared to legal immigrants or citizens. But a perceived crime wave is not the only argument in favour of an immigration crackdown. The US is grappling with cost-of-living and housing crises, too, which many citizens say is only worsened by a mass influx of illegal immigrants competing for the same resources. Brenda Lee, a resident of Brooklyn, New York, told Foreign Correspondent last year she would vote for Trump because of his hardline immigration policies. "There's people that are having a hard time, you know, making ends meet," she said. "The rents are so high, we have a housing crisis, we have so many issues. "So it's like, we come first because we pay taxes." Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN Since Trump returned to office this year, ICE agents have been particularly active in California, New York and Illinois, according to analysis published by Axios last week. These states are considered "blue" because they reliably vote in favour of the Democratic Party in presidential elections. California is home to the country's largest immigrant population. About 10.6 million of its residents were born overseas, which makes up 22 per cent of the nation's foreign-born population. According to the Pew Research Center, 1.8 million immigrants in California, or about 17 percent of the total number, were undocumented in 2022. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Los Angeles had been "invaded" by "illegal aliens and criminals". Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN It's a section of the military that can be used as reserves for the army and air force. Each state has its own unit, which answers to the relevant state governor and the president. While the national guard has assisted with crowd control in the past, Trump's call to deploy the California National Guard is considered a rather historic move. That is because he did so without the governor's approval - something no president has done since 1965 when President Lyndon B Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama. California Governor Gavin Newsom has formally requested the Trump administration withdraw the troops, arguing their presence is "inflaming tensions". "Indeed, the decision to deploy the National Guard, without appropriate training or orders, risks seriously escalating the situation," his office wrote to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. - ABC
