An executive order signed at the White House on Feb. 6, 2026, directs the Attorney General to give the Department of Homeland Security access to criminal history records held by the Department of Justice. The order, published in the Federal Register on Feb. 11, 2026, is numbered 14385.
The order states it is United States policy to protect the country’s well-being and safety, and the well-being and safety of its people, from people who commit crimes. It says those actors may include foreign nationals with criminal histories who entered or stayed in the United States in violation of immigration law, or who seek to violate U.S. criminal law.
It is also United States policy, the order says, to work with trusted foreign governments by exchanging information about people convicted of felonies, each side providing records in return, to support border and immigration screening.
The order describes Homeland Security as responsible for guarding U.S. borders by stopping people and goods entering illegally, protecting against dangerous goods, narcotics, and firearms, and detecting and stopping terrorists, drug smugglers, human smugglers, and others who seek to harm the United States. To carry out those duties, the order says, Homeland Security immigration authorities must have access to criminal history record information held by federal criminal justice agencies, to the maximum extent the law allows. That phrase is the order’s term for the records.
The order directs the Attorney General to provide Homeland Security with access to criminal history records available to or kept by the Justice Department. That access is for Homeland Security’s screening and vetting work, and only as far as the law permits.
The order also allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to exchange those records with border security and immigration authorities of Visa Waiver Program countries, countries that have a Preventing and Combating Serious Crime agreement or a similar agreement with the United States, and other trusted allies. Any exchange must rest on reciprocity and on a two-country or multi-country agreement or arrangement made by Homeland Security.
The order says that agreement must include safeguards to protect the privacy of U.S. persons and other individuals, consistent with applicable law. The secretary may provide the information only to screen travelers and immigrants seeking to enter or stay in a Visa Waiver Program country or another country covered by the arrangement.
The order does not set a deadline for the access or the exchanges. It does not revoke or amend an earlier order. It says it must be carried out consistent with applicable law and subject to available appropriations. It also says it does not create any right or benefit that a person can enforce in court against the United States, its agencies, or its officers.