ICE arrests reached record highs this summer as enforcement tactics shifted
The Trump administration reached a record number of immigration-related arrests over the last three months, even as the dramatic increase did not mirror the militarized spectacle seen at the start of the year.The tactics over the summer instead focused on street arrests and working with local jails and local law enforcement, with sweeps hitting cities like Houston, New York, Memphis, San Francisco and Atlanta.
Immigration officers have also focused on arrests at airports, courthouses and ICE check-ins.In August alone, ICE officers and agents arrested a record 50,925 people, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
That new high came on the heels of 50,208 arrests in July, which was the record at the time, according to DHS.Officers made nearly 44,000 arrests in June.These arrests follow a recent mandate to ICE field offices to arrest 2,000 people per day nationwide.
ICE in August averaged around 1,600 arrests per day; ICE officers were arresting around 1,000 people a day before the mandate.The recent increase is part of a “new normal” that ICE hopes to maintain, a source familiar with the arrest operations said earlier this summer.
ICE arrests reached more than 10,000 in July in Texas alone.Jacob Lujan / Houston Chronicle via Getty Images“The hard-working men and women of DHS continue to break records as they defend the homeland and protect the American people,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement.“For the third straight month, ICE set a new record for the highest number of illegal aliens arrested in a single month, nearly 51,000.”In the winter, DHS sent large law enforcement operations to Democratic cities, culminating in the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January in Minneapolis.
Their deaths led to protesters flooding the streets in Minnesota and cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.After the wave of anti-ICE criticism from residents and lawmakers, DHS underwent a regime change, with border czar Tom Homan ...