EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s CBP axes Biden-era policy allowing private gifts for illegal immigrants in federal custody

EXCLUSIVE – A Biden-era pipeline that allowed federal immigration officials to solicit and accept private gifts for illegal immigrants in custody has been shut down at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, with the agency saying the policy no longer fits the Trump administration's border crackdown.

CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott withdrew the agency from the 2022 Department of Homeland Security directive effective immediately, according to an internal memo obtained exclusively by Fox News.

The directive gave the leaders of CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authority to solicit, accept and use gifts related to the care of illegal immigrants held in the agencies' custody.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) headquarters in Washington, D.C., on May 10, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"This delegation order is no longer needed or appropriate," Scott wrote. "With the significant decrease in encounters and apprehensions, CBP no longer requires private donations or gifts for distribution to aliens in custody."

Scott said the policy also "does not align with the Trump administration's strengthened enforcement posture at our borders and related presidential actions issued by the administration."

"For these reasons, I am withdrawing CBP from DHS Delegation 07107, Rev. 1 effective immediately," he wrote.

From left, Rodney Scott, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Todd Lyons, acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, are sworn in during a House oversight hearing on Capitol Hill, Feb. 10, 2026. (Tom Brenner/AP Photo)

CBP confirmed the move to Fox News and said officials recently discovered the directive and moved to rescind the agency's participation. The withdrawal applies to CBP; Scott's memo does not say ICE has been removed from the DHS policy.

The original delegation was signed May 3, 2022, by then-Deputy Homeland Security Secretary John K. Tien.

A Customs and Border Protection vehicle pulls over a commercial tractor trailer, left, pictured alongside an officer speaking to a driver, right. (Customs and Border Protection)

The order also authorized the CBP commissioner and ICE director to solicit specific gifts related to the care of illegal immigrants in custody.

Scott said CBP sought the authority because of the "elevated number of aliens encountered, processed and held" in its facilities at the time. He wrote that the significant decrease in encounters and apprehensions means CBP no longer needs private donations or gifts to distribute to migrants in custody.

"CBP will continue to provide care for aliens in our custody through our normal appropriations," Scott wrote.