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Federal immigration authorities detained more than 10,000 people over a five-day period this week as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sharply expanded enforcement efforts, with internal daily arrest targets reportedly doubling to about 2,000 and exceeding 2,400 on Saturday, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.
The enforcement surge has pushed the number of migrants in ICE custody above 63,000. Field offices have also reportedly been instructed to dedicate about 80 percent of their officers to arrest operations seven days a week.
A source familiar with ICE operations said the agency is expanding enforcement using funding provided through the One Big Beautiful Bill as the law approaches its one-year anniversary.
Unlike the highly publicized workplace raids earlier in President Donald Trump’s second term, the latest enforcement push has largely occurred out of public view, with immigration attorneys reporting arrests during routine check-ins, traffic stops, and other everyday activities.
Immigration advocacy groups say the expanded operations are increasingly resulting in the detention of migrants without criminal records, despite repeated administration statements that enforcement is focused on dangerous offenders.
The American Immigration Council and other groups monitoring ICE arrests have reported that many recent detainees have no criminal history.
The quieter enforcement strategy follows Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s pledge to move away from the large-scale raids that drew criticism last year after a Minnesota operation in which two U.S. citizens were killed.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the intensified operations.
“If you come to our country illegally, we will find you, we will arrest you and we will deport you,” a department spokeswoman said.
The increase in arrests comes just days after the Supreme Court of the United States rejected the Trump administration’s effort to end birthright citizenship, reaffirming that “children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.”
