WASHINGTON

US authorities will now be allowed to carry out enforcement actions against illegal immigrants at or near locations such as churches and schools, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Tuesday.

In a statement, Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman announced two key directives on Monday aimed at tightening immigration enforcement and ending what the Trump administration describes as the "invasion" of the US southern border.

The first directive reverses Biden-era guidelines that restricted US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operations at or near “sensitive” locations such as schools and places of worship.

The second directive curtails the widespread use of humanitarian parole, returning the program to its intended case-by-case evaluation.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the action empowers agents in CBP and ICE to enforce the Trump administration's "immigration laws and catch criminal aliens -- including murderers and rapists -- who have illegally come into our country.”

"Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense," said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson said the Biden administration abused the humanitarian parole program to indiscriminately allow 1.5 million migrants to enter the US.

"This was all stopped on day one of the Trump administration. This action will return the humanitarian parole program to its original purpose of looking at migrants on a case-by-case basis," the spokesperson added.