The White House and the Department of Homeland Security have turned Donald Trump’s ominous campaign promises and sweeping executive orders into a brutal reality, setting the framework for a far-reaching crackdown on illegal immigration nationwide and mass deportations. For the agencies tasked with immigration enforcement in the Trump era, it's the morale boost they were looking for. Tens of thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents scattered throughout the country are reporting feeling newly galvanized; "We’re trusted again," as one I.C.E. veteran put it.

In the form of two memos issued last week, the D.H.S. outlined a radical shift in U.S. immigration policies, constituting a wholesale rejection of the approach under President Barack Obama. Among other things, the new Trump policy—which the president described as a “military operation”—calls for the hire of 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and broadens the definition of “removable alien." It allows Border Patrol agents to target undocumented immigrants convicted of any criminal offense—no matter how minor. A New York Times report, based on interviews with 17 I.C.E. agents and officials, suggests that this has emboldened and empowered federal immigration agents across the U.S.

“Before, we used to be told, ‘You can’t arrest those people,’ and we’d be disciplined for being insubordinate if we did,” a 10-year veteran of I.C.E. who participated in a Southern California immigration operation last week that resulted in 161 detainments, told the Times. “Now those people are priorities again. And there are a lot of them here.”

On Tuesday Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that the president wanted to “take the shackles off individuals in these agencies” by removing the priority hierarchy. And the Times report suggests that the changes have been well-received. The unions that represent Border Patrol and I.C.E. agents said in a joint statement, “Morale amongst our agents and officers has increased exponentially” since Trump signed the executive orders on immigration. Two officials in Washington described to the Times a new enthusiasm amongst agents and said that the policy change “seems to have encouraged pro-Trump political comments and banter that struck the officials as brazen or gung-ho, like remarks about their jobs becoming ‘fun.’” One 15 year I.C.E. veteran in California told the newspaper, “The discretion has come back to us; it’s up to us to make decisions in the field,” adding, “We’re trusted again.”

John Sandweg, who served as an acting I.C.E. director under President Obama, argued that the old priorities and focus on serious criminals helped the agency make the best use of its resources. “There are 10 seats on the bus, they go to the first 10 you grab,” he said. “It diminishes the chances that it’s a violent offender.” But Sandweg added that among rank-and-file I.C.E. agents, the priorities “were not terribly popular” and that “they wanted unfettered discretion.”

The new rules that have emboldened agents have not been well-received by everyone, as a rash of highly-publicized I.C.E. raids in recent weeks have incited concern and backlash.

Earlier this month, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, penned a letter to D.H.S. Secretary John Kelly raising concerns about a raid in Alexandria, Virginia. The operation “raises a concern that unlike previous actions, ICE agents are detaining Virginia residents without cause or specific allegations of criminal activity," he wrote.

During a briefing after the memos we released, Spicer told reporters that the government would continue to focus on “criminal aliens.” But on a background call with reporters last week, a D.H.S. official reportedly said that while undocumented immigrants with serious crimes on their records would remain at the top of the list for deportation, anyone could be targeted under the new rules. “The fact that you’re not a priority does not exempt you from the potential of enforcement,” the official said. “I would just say that, realistically speaking, there are obvious limits to what we can and can’t do on a daily basis.”