Priority Enforcement Program facts for kids

The Priority Enforcement Program (PEP, sometimes also called PEP-COMM, PEP-Comm, or Pep-Comm) is a program by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency responsible for immigration enforcement in the interior of the United States, under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). PEP was an ICE program that worked with state and local law enforcement to identify illegal aliens (people who are not United States citizens) who come in contact with state or local law enforcement, and remove those who are removable (either because their presence is unauthorized, or because they committed an aggravated felony). PEP was announced by DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson in a November 20, 2014 memo as a replacement for Secure Communities (S-COMM). It builds on an updated list of immigration enforcement priorities released in another memo by Johnson issued on the same day.

The official rollout of the program started on July 2, 2015.

The enforcement priorities referenced in PEP were also relevant to other work by ICE as well as by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) related to immigration enforcement, apprehension, detention, and removal. However, PEP does not encompass these; PEP refers only to the ICE program that works with state and local law enforcement to identify and remove aliens who come in contact with local law enforcement.

After the issuing of Executive Order 13768 by newly elected United States President Donald Trump on January 25, 2017, that revived the Secure Communities program, ICE discontinued the Priority Enforcement Program.