ICE arrests 10,000 in 5 days, a sharp late-June surge in Trump's
deportation push
[July 03, 2026]
By REBECCA SANTANA
WASHINGTON (AP) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 10,000
people over a five-day period at the end of June, marking a major push
by the agency tasked with carrying out the Trump administration's mass
deportations agenda.
The arrest numbers, obtained from a person familiar with the information
who spoke anonymously to discuss data that has not been publicly
released, comes after the agency shifted its approach from high-profile
arrest sweeps in major American cities to quieter ways to reach
President Donald Trump's deportation goals.
The figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking
down on individual cities, the arrests continue and are surging.
The total number of arrests during the five-day period starting Friday
and ending Tuesday translates into roughly 2,000 arrests per day. It was
not clear where the arrests had taken place.
The spike in arrests was first reported by The New York Times.
“Since Day One, DHS law enforcement has been delivering on President
Trump’s promise to the American people to arrest and deport criminal
illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members,
and terrorists,” said the Department of Homeland Security in a
statement. “Our message is clear: if you come to our country illegally,
we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you.”
The arrests news also comes as the number of people entered into ICE
detention facilities climbed in June to roughly 39,000 after hovering
around 30,000 per month since February, according to information
obtained by The Associated Press.

ICE doesn't publicly release arrest data, making exact comparisons with
previous periods difficult. But according to data provided to UC
Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project and analyzed by The Associated
Press, 2,000 arrests per day would mark a sharp increase over previous
periods.
December had the most ICE arrests since the beginning of the Trump
administration, and that month only averaged 1,283 arrests per day
nationwide.
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A man who asked not to be named, left, waits for news of his wife,
who is from Cuba, as she has an appointment at the ICE Immigration
and Customs Enforcement field office, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in
Miramar, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

In January, at a time when the administration flooded the streets of
Minneapolis and surrounding regions with hundreds of immigration
enforcement officers, arrests averaged about 1,212 per day across
the country.
But Minneapolis proved to be a turning point in the Trump
administration's mass deportations agenda after two American
citizens were killed by immigration officers while protesting the
crackdown in Minneapolis.
Border Czar Tom Homan started drawing down the number of officers in
Minnesota as the agency stepped back from the flashy surge
operations that had been common during the tenure of then- Homeland
Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Operations under Noem headed by former Border Patrol Chief Gregory
Bovino were marked by frequent clashes between immigration
enforcement officers and protesters, in footage that was often
splashed across the Department's social media channels.
In February, immigration arrests fell to 1,057 a day, according to
information from the Deportation Data Project. The Project sued
through the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the ICE arrests
data and it is only current through February.
After Noem was fired, her successor at Homeland Security, Markwayne
Mullin, suggested he'd be taking a more low-profile approach to
immigration enforcement and he aimed to get the department out of
the headlines. But Mullin was expected to adopt Trump's priorities
on immigration.
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