US immigration agents arrested a record number of people in June, data shows
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/21/immigration-agents-arrest-june-data
US immigration agents arrested a record number of people in June, data shows
Guardian analysis shows officers arrested 43,138 people as quiet and steady operations ramp up across the country
The Trump administration arrested a record number of immigrants last month, according to newly released government data that reveals how US immigration agents are quietly but steadily ramping up operations across the country.
A Guardian analysis of the latest data published by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) found that federal immigration agents arrested 43,138 people in June – the highest number since Donald Trump took office in January last year and promised a campaign of mass immigrant deportations.
The number of people in detention has also ticked up by 5,450 since early April, when ICE last provided a count of its detained population. There were a total of 65,765 people in ICE detention as of 11 July – slightly below a record 70,770 people who were in detention in January.
As has been the case since last summer, the number of people in ICE detention without any criminal history remains higher than the number who have pending charges or convictions.
In total, the Trump administration has deported more than 590,600 since January 2025, the latest figures show.
The new data matches what immigration advocates and attorneys have said they are seeing in communities across the US. Bolstered by a $70bn funding surge, the US Department of Homeland Security – which oversees ICE and border patrol – has been steadily ramping up arrests and detentions. The White House has reportedly pushed immigration officials to aim for 2,000 arrests every day.
Communities are once again on high alert for ICE activity after immigration officers killed two men – Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, and Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, 26 – in a week, sparking protests against the US immigration enforcement system in cities around the country.
Last year, the Trump administration launched a number of militarized immigration operations in places including Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, but it has lately taken a quieter approach to enforcement. After immigration officers shot and killed two US citizens in Minneapolis – Renee Good and Alex Pretti – Trump replaced his DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, with Markwayne Mullin, who said he wanted to move away from high-profile operations.
The roving caravans of immigration officers raiding public parks and parking lots have become less common. Arrests are now happening routinely, at workplaces, outside homes or during traffic stops, according to advocates and legal aid groups. Many immigrants are being detained when they report to ICE offices for mandated check-in appointments. Others are being stopped by police, sheriffs and members of other state and local law enforcement agencies deputized by the federal government to conduct immigration sweeps.
Immigration advocates said because the arrests are generally happening routinely, and quietly, volunteers who had taken to keeping watch for ICE vehicles and officers in certain cities and blowing whistles when they spotted immigration agents, are lately having trouble seeing how and where ICE is operating.
“It’s just happening so quickly. So people can’t get there to observe, record and report what they saw,” said Gracie Willis, an attorney with the National Immigration Project, in a recent interview. “And often all that’s left is an empty car sitting there.”
Since 2019, Congress has required ICE to publish data on arrests, detentions and deportations every two weeks. But until Monday, the agency had failed to publish any updates since early April.
The delay had angered lawmakers across the political spectrum and multiple media organizations, academics and non-profit organizations had requested that the agency provide updates on how many immigrants it was arresting and detaining. In a statement to the Guardian, the DHS blamed the months-long delay in reporting data on a series of government shutdowns.
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