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A foreign national is arrested during an enforcement raid in Los Angeles by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Feb. 7, 2017.(Photo: Charles Reed, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP)

The first major immigration raid under President Trump showsa clearshift in the federal government's deportation strategy,targeting fewer undocumented immigrants with criminal records than under President Obama.

Of 678 people rounded up in 12 states during raids last week, 74% had been convicted of a crime. That is down from 90% of detained people with criminal records in 2016 under Obama, according to a USA TODAYanalysis of more than a dozen federal raids.

For example, during a June 2016 raid conducted in six Midwestern states, 85% of the 324 people arrested had beenconvicted of crimes. During a raid in those same six states last week, 69% had criminal records.

The increase in arrests of those without criminal records does not appear to be consistent with Trump's promise afterhis electiontouse Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to target murderers, rapists and other "bad hombres" who pose serious threats to public safety.

Obama had taken a similar stance byfocusing on criminal offenders.After 18 raids in 2016, ICE issued summaries notingthat all the undocumented immigrants arrested were"enforcement priorities" who included convicted criminals, gang members, threats to national security, those who recently crossed the borderand people with standing deportation orders.

In summaries of each of the five coordinated raids conducted last week, however, ICE explained it was taking a new course of action."During targeted enforcement operations, ICE officers frequently encounter additional suspects who may be in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws," the summaries said. "Those persons will be evaluated on a case by case basis and, when appropriate, arrested by ICE."

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David Leopold, a Cleveland immigration attorney and past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said exposing all undocumented immigrants encountered during raids for deportation represents a "major shift" in enforcement that takes the focus away from serious criminals and creates a sense of panic throughout the immigrant community.

"This is the blueprint for mass deportations," he said.

Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, whichfavors lower levels of immigration,saidthe shift is simply common sense. Krikorian, who has advised the Trump administration on immigration policy,said Obama correctlyprioritizedlimited deportation dollars on the most serious criminals. But he said it was a mistake tolimit the ability of ICE officers to arrest other undocumented immigrants caught during their operations.

"What's different now is that we've returned to normal enforcement practices where the 'bad hombres' are still job one, but ordinary lawbreakers are no longer exempt from enforcement," Krikorian said.

The ability of ICE agents to arrest undocumented immigrants encountered during their day-to-day jobs islaid out by orders from the president or the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Over the course of his eight years in office, Obama gradually restricted who ICE agents could apprehend. He created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012, which granted deportation protections to more than 750,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. Then, in 2014, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson issued a memorandum outlining "enforcement priorities" and ordered ICE agents to only capture alimited group of undocumented immigrants.

That led to an increasing percentage of people deported under Obama with a criminal record. In 2011, about 67% of undocumented immigrants deported from the interior of the country had criminal records. Thefigure rose every year after that, hitting 92% in 2016.

All that changed on Jan. 25, when Trump signed an executive order vastly expandingthe pool of undocumented immigrants considered "enforcement priorities." The new list added undocumented immigrants who have been charged with a crime but not convicted, those who have used fake Social Security numbers to find jobs orabused public benefit programsand people who "otherwise pose a risk to public safety or national security."

This week, new Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly reiterated Trump's earlier call to focus on the most dangerous undocumented immigrants. Kelly said ICE agents would have a "specific focus on those who pose a threat to public safety."

John Sandweg, a former acting director of ICE under Obama, said suchpronouncements mean little to ICE agents working in the field. Instead, they operate under guidelines set forth by their superiors,in this caseTrump's Jan. 25 executive order.

"The priorities are what govern the operations," said Sandweg. "Thats how theyre graded, thats how their compensation and benefits are awarded, that's how theyre promoted."

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Trump immigration raids target fewer criminals than Obama raids - USA TODAY