Preliminary August data show ICE arrested about 50,000 people nationwide, keeping monthly apprehensions near record levels even as the Trump administration moves toward lower-profile operations and expands cooperation with state and local law enforcement.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested roughly 50,000 people in August, according to preliminary federal data, extending a three-month stretch of historically high immigration enforcement.
A senior Department of Homeland Security official familiar with the figures said the August total was approximately 50,000, though final numbers have not yet been released, NBC News reported Tuesday.
The figure closely tracks July, when ICE recorded 49,571 arrests, the highest monthly total of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Government data provided to the Deportation Data Project at UC Berkeley and UCLA showed July arrests were 15% higher than June’s 43,021, according to Houston Public Media.
ICE arrests had fallen to 29,241 in February before climbing sharply through the spring and summer.
The sustained increase has continued even as the administration changes how immigration enforcement is carried out.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who took over DHS in March, has adopted a less public approach than his predecessor, Kristi Noem, while continuing Trump’s push for expanded arrests and deportations.
Noem frequently appeared alongside federal officers during high-profile enforcement operations, including Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, where two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by federal agents.
Mullin has instead pledged to keep DHS out of the headlines while maintaining the administration’s immigration enforcement objectives.
Under his leadership, ICE has increasingly relied on operations at airports, immigration courthouses, scheduled ICE check-ins and other locations that generally attract less public attention than large-scale city sweeps.
The August arrest total indicates that the lower-profile strategy has not reduced the overall pace of enforcement.
Graeme Blair, co-director of the Deportation Data Project, said the increase reflects a broadening of the circumstances in which immigration officers are taking people into custody.
“What we’re seeing is an expansion in all of the different ways that ICE is detaining people,” Blair told NPR, pointing to arrests at airports, immigration courthouses and ICE check-ins.
Another major factor has been the expansion of partnerships between federal immigration authorities and local law enforcement agencies.
Through the federal 287(g) program, participating state and local agencies can perform designated immigration enforcement duties under ICE supervision.
Those partnerships accounted for approximately 6,500 arrests in July, representing about 13% of all ICE arrests that month.
A year earlier, such partnerships accounted for less than 5% of the monthly total.
The Trump administration has also substantially increased the resources available for immigration enforcement.
Congress provided billions of dollars in additional funding that is being used to expand ICE’s workforce, detention capacity and enforcement infrastructure.
The agency has added approximately 12,000 deportation officers and investigative agents as part of that expansion.
New spending is also being directed toward detention facilities and equipment.
ICE recently entered into a $17 million contract with a company to manage operations at a new warehouse in San Antonio, Texas, according to government contracting records.
The agency has also sought additional turnkey detention facilities and planned purchases that include electric gloves and robotic dogs.
Taken together, the preliminary August numbers suggest ICE has maintained the record-setting enforcement pace established in June and July while relying less heavily on highly visible raids and more on expanded staffing, detention infrastructure, local partnerships and arrests conducted through routine immigration enforcement channels.
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