According to the latest data released by ICE to the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Los Angeles, and analyzed by the Associated Press, the agency arrested 49,571 people in July—the highest monthly total since President Donald Trump started his second term.
Compared with June, arrests in July rose about 15% and were about 70% higher than February’s total. Before Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, monthly arrests averaged just over 8,000, mostly immigrants transferred from city or state jails and prisons to ICE for deportation from the United States.
During the first year of Trump’s return to power, monthly arrests began to climb as the administration eased restrictions on where and whom ICE officers could target. By December, monthly arrests had exceeded 40,000.
After two deadly shootings in Minnesota in January sparked backlash from Democratic lawmakers, arrests dipped in February. After several months of stagnation, the numbers surged in June and kept rising in July.
Nearly 20,000 arrests in July occurred in Texas and Florida. Both states participate in cooperation agreements with ICE under the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement to act as federal immigration enforcement auxiliaries.
The arrest campaign expanded after ICE hired roughly 12,000 additional officers and agents last year.
