ICE Arrests Surge Nationwide Under Trump Administration

ICE has arrested more than 20,000 people in Texas and over 11,000 in Florida and Puerto Rico since Jan. 20, according to data obtained by the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley.

{snip}

“We intend to enforce the law fully and rigorously,” said Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and the driving force behind the administration’s immigration policy who in May set a daily target of 3,000 arrests.

Following Miller’s directive, ICE arrests climbed to an average of more than 1,100 per day in early June, prompting agents to detain migrants at routine check-ins and immigration court hearings.

Those apprehended in court are increasingly subject to expedited removal, a process that curtails their opportunity to present a deportation defense. At the end of 2024, roughly 5% of arrestees underwent expedited removal; by June, that share had risen to 15%, following the administration’s curtailment of legal protections for many recent arrivals.

{snip}

The Deportation Data Project’s figures cover administrative arrests by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division through June 10 and exclude criminal arrests, Homeland Security Investigations detentions, and Customs and Border Protection apprehensions. Data were filtered to remove duplicates and invalid entries; approximately 11% of arrests lacking state-level location information are omitted from state totals.

The enforcement surge has ignited protests nationwide, including confrontations between federal agents, local police, and demonstrators in Los Angeles earlier this month. Civil rights advocates warn that aggressive detention tactics risk eroding due process rights. Yet, bolstered by Miller’s targets, ICE continues to expand its operations.