By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The FBI ordered agents on Monday to step up the amount of time they devote to immigration enforcement and to scale back investigating white-collar crime, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
In a series of meetings, FBI agents were told by their field offices they would need to start devoting approximately one third of their time to helping the Trump administration crack down on illegal immigration.
Pursuing white-collar cases, they were told, will be deprioritized for at least the remainder of 2025, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss a private call.
An FBI spokeswoman did not have an immediate comment on the new directive.
Historically, immigration enforcement has largely not been the purview of the Justice Department’s law enforcement agencies.
But as President Donald Trump has stepped up an immigration crackdown, thousands of federal law enforcement officials from multiple agencies have been enlisted in recent months to take on new work as immigration enforcers, pulling crime-fighting resources away from other areas.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, additional reporting by Ned Parker; Editing by Scott Malone)
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