--- title: Immigration: Criminals Will Be President Trump's Priority description: "The focus is going to be on people who have done harm to our country," Spicer said Monday canonical: https://time.com/4643995/donald-trump-immigration-criminals-daca/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-23T20:25:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:53:52.893Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Says Criminals Will Be Trump's Priority og:description: President Trump may not immediately reverse the Obama administration. og:url: https://time.com/4643995/donald-trump-immigration-criminals-daca/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte025e734de852534/6988b6dd0a4a2268709ccaa8/gettyimages-632497728.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Sean Spicer Holds Daily Press Briefing At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Says Criminals Will Be Trump's Priority twitter:description: President Trump may not immediately reverse the Obama administration. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte025e734de852534/6988b6dd0a4a2268709ccaa8/gettyimages-632497728.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Says Criminals Will Be Trump's Priority on Immigration > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 23, 2017 8:25 PM UTC  White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer holds the daily press briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House Jan. 23, 2017 in Washington, DC. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer holds the daily press briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House Jan. 23, 2017 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 23, 2017 8:25 PM UTC President Trump may not immediately reverse the Obama Administration policy that protected young immigrants from being deported, his White House signaled on Monday. “The focus is going to be on people who have done harm to our country,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Monday. During [the first press briefing of the Trump Administration](http://time.com/4643724/donald-trump-first-press-briefing/), Spicer said on the issue of immigration, the president would prioritize security and criminals in the country illegally when he was asked about the future of the recipients of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Over 700,000 young immigrants have benefited from the policy. DACA recipients, also known as Dreamers, had been [worried in the lead up to Trump’s inauguration](http://time.com/4632293/donald-trump-cabinet-dreamers-confirmation-hearings/) given his election promise to rescind all of President Obama’s executive actions. On Monday, a group of immigration advocates and Democratic Senators called for protections for immigrants from Trump and Congress during an event on Capitol Hill. Under the Obama administration, criminals and those who threatened national security, border security, and public safety were the [top priorities for immigration enforcement](https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/14%5F1120%5Fmemo%5Fprosecutorial%5Fdiscretion.pdf) following a 2014 memorandum from then-DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson. According to Johnson’s [Department of Homeland Security](https://www.dhs.gov/DHSInReview) exit memo, in fiscal year 2016 98% of enforcement actions and 99% of removals aligned with the Obama administration enforcement priorities and some 90% of people who were deported from the interior of the U.S. had been convicted of serious crimes. President Obama’s administration also deported more people than his predecessor President George W. 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