--- 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: 2026-10-07T07:14:32.933Z 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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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=fb360469-7020-43bb-b2e4-c0d19a08e06a&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Donald Trump’s First Press Briefing Was a Big Change [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump’s First Press Briefing Was a Big Change](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gJmmEYQH.m3u8) (1:40)  _Published 2017-01-23. Sean Spicer arrived at his first full press briefing as the Trump Administration’s top spokesman_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 23, 2017 8:25 PM UTC 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. Bush. ## Transcript I know that Josh Earnest voted the most popular Press Secretary by the press corps. So, after checking my Twitter feed, I shot Josh an email last night letting him know that he can rest easy that his title is secure for at least the next few days. I think that if there's a way that we can combat ISIS with any country whether it's Russia or anyone else And we had shared national interest in that, sure we'll take it. I believe that we have to be honest with the American people. I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may not fully understand when we come out. But our intention is never to lie to you. There are times when we believe something to be true, or we get something from an agency. Are we acting in haste because the information available wasn't complete, but our desire to communicate with the American people and make sure that you have the most complete story at the time. And so we do it. I think that it's, as I mentioned the other day, it is a two way street. There are many mistakes that the media makes all the time. They misreport something, they don't report something, they get a fact wrong. I don't think that's always [ INAUDIBLE ], you know? To turn around and say, okay. You were intentionally lying. I think we all go try to do our best job. And do it with a degree of integrity in our respective industries. And do you stand by your statement that that was the most watched inaugural address in [ UNKNOWN ]? Sure, it was the most watched inaugural. When you look at. Look. You look at just the one network alone at 16. 9 million people online. Another couple of the networks there was tens of millions of people that watched that online. Nevermind the audience that was here. 31 million people watched it on television. Combine that with the tens of millions of people that watched it online on a device. It's unquestionable. 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