Vice President JD Vance just delivered the clearest statement yet on the Trump administration’s deportation policy — and it leaves zero room for misinterpretation.
“Nobody who has come into the United States illegally should remain in the United States,” Vance told Vince Coglianese, host of the VINCE podcast and editorial director at the Daily Caller, in an exclusive White House interview.
The statement came after conflicting reports called into question the Department of Homeland Security’s deportation priorities — and after DHS walked back internal guidance that sparked a conservative firestorm.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were reportedly told to halt arrests of noncriminal illegal aliens and only target migrants with criminal charges or convictions. The Daily Wire broke the story, triggering immediate backlash from immigration hawks who feared the administration was softening its stance.
DHS quickly denied the characterization, insisting “no one is off the table.”
“Nobody who has come into the United States illegally should remain in the United States. That remains our policy.”
Vance acknowledged the guidance existed but said it reflected resource prioritization, not a policy retreat.
“I think the back and forth is, unfortunately, sometimes you have people who are leaking to reporters some internal policy documents,” Vance explained. “And my understanding of what happened is … if you, let’s say, have a DHS agent and that guy can deport one person that day, he can go and deport a violent criminal or a person who hasn’t committed a violent crime; of course, we’re going to prioritize the violent criminals.”
“But that is not a reflection of overall deportation policy,” Vance added. “That’s about prioritizing fundamentally limited resources.”
.@JDVance discussed the weekend reports surrounding ICE’s deportation policies:
“If you have a DHS agent and that guy can deport one person that day, he can go and deport a violent criminal or a person who hasn’t committed a violent crime. Of course we’re going to prioritize the…
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 29, 2026
Vance also laid out the sheer scale of the challenge — and the progress already made.
“We looked at the north of 10 million illegal aliens that had come in just under the last few years of the Biden administration,” Vance told Coglianese. “And then you add another 15 or 20 million on top of that who are already here.”
That’s 25 to 30 million people who shouldn’t be in the country — a number Vance says requires time, training, and massive recruitment to address.
“So it takes a long time to bring in, to train, to recruit the kind of people who can engage in the deportations that we need,” Vance said. “But look, we’ve already, I think, gotten north of three million people out in just 18 months.”
He reiterated the administration’s triage approach: violent criminals first, but everyone here illegally ultimately on the list.
“Again, we have prioritized violent criminals, but nobody who has come into the United States illegally should remain in the United States. That remains our policy.”
SCOOP: ICE officers across the country were told this weekend to stop arresting non-criminals, agency sources tell @realDailyWire
Now, ICE may only arrest illegal immigrants with criminal convictions or charges for the time being, said the sources.
The change also ends…
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) September 27, 2026
This is false. No one is off the table. We will continue to arrest any and all illegal aliens that come into our path.
Anyone in our country illegally will be arrested and deported.
In an effort to protect American citizens, ICE has initiated a nationwide public safety surge… https://t.co/mGGHkZjxaZ
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 27, 2026
