Trump’s deportation machine hits stride as ICE arrests, detention set new records

ICE is now arresting nearly 1,200 illegal immigrants a day and had more than 56,000 people in detention, shattering previous records as the agency begins to fulfill President Trump’s promise of mass deportations by nabbing more people without criminal records.

Deportations have also topped 1,100 a day, as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement moves to try to get people out of the country as fast as it is arresting them.

The numbers come five months into Mr. Trump’s tenure, and experts say the president has had to battle significant headwinds to reach this point.

The numbers surged after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reportedly ordered ICE last month to broaden its aperture of arrests, saying they needed to be more aggressive if they were to make a dent in the millions of illegal immigrants who settled here during the Biden administration.

One result is that ICE is now nabbing far more migrants who don’t have a criminal record.

Of the roughly 39,300 cases of ICE arrestees being detained as of June 14, 37% had criminal convictions and 33% had pending criminal charges, for a total criminal population of 70%.

That’s down from 77% in late May, and significantly down from more than 94% in January, at the end of the Biden administration, who had either criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

Crackdown proponents hailed the higher numbers.

“Some of the expectations that were built were unreasonable, that all of a sudden we were going to have mass deportations. You have to ramp up to something like that, and I think the administration is showing they are ramping up,” said Rosemary Jenks, policy director at the Immigration Accountability Project.

But she also warned that it will be difficult to sustain, much less grow, that pace without a massive infusion of money from Congress.

That’s particularly true for the detention beds, where ICE reported 56,397 people in physical custody as of June 14.

That’s more than 5,000 more than the agency had in custody at the end of May.

It also breaks the all-time high of 55,654 set back during the 2019 border surge.

Congress has only funded ICE for a daily average of 44,000 beds, so it is running well ahead of that and could hit a funding crunch this summer.

Of those in custody on June 14, 633 were being held as part of family units. The Biden administration had ended family detention, but the Trump administration revived it, saying it’s a crucial part of being able to oust them.

The 633 in custody was roughly a 130% increase over the total at the end of May.

ICE also reported deporting 15,656 people over the first two weeks of June, totaling 1,118 per day. That is below the record pace set in 2012 under President Obama, though his numbers were skewed higher because they included far more border crossers.

For those two weeks from June 1 to June 14, ICE also reported 16,704 agency book-ins, or arrests. Those are independent of border arrests, and experts said they would be a record pace if they are sustained.

Critics accuse ICE of “quota-hunting,” pumping up numbers by going after relatively low-level illegal immigrants. They say that violates Mr. Trump’s campaign vow to target “criminals” among the illegal immigrant population.

That pledge was always in tension with Mr. Trump’s vow for mass deportations, which cannot readily be accomplished only by focusing on those with criminal entanglements.

Mr. Trump has, in recent weeks, tried to get it both ways.

In remarks and social media posts, he urged ICE to strive for mass deportations but told them to avoid the country’s “heartland.”

“In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside,” he said on Truth Social.

Immigrant-rights groups say the administration has been seesawing back and forth in its pronouncements about immigration enforcement, but say on-the-ground reports indicate enforcement continues at farms, hotels and other businesses.

“Make no mistake: President Trump may be the one sitting behind the Resolute Desk, but Stephen Miller is the one running the show when it comes to immigration in the Trump White House,” Vanessa Cardenas, executive director at the pro-migrant group America’s Voice, said last week amid reports of confusion over the direction ICE was going.

She argued the expansion of deportations is costing Mr. Trump support among part of his political base who wanted a secure border but didn’t back his broad deportation goals.

However, Ms. Jenks said broadening the aperture of arrests is critical if Mr. Trump wants to push out the millions of arrivals from the Biden years.