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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested nearly 20,000 migrants in the Washington, D.C., region since January 2025, marking a sharp increase from the previous year, according to a new report from the Washington Post.
The arrests occurred across D.C. as well as nearby areas in Maryland and Virginia during the early months of President Donald Trump’s second term, the report said.
While arrest totals within Washington itself have declined in recent months, enforcement activity in surrounding jurisdictions has remained steady, helping keep overall numbers high.
The figures represent a significant jump compared with the final year of President Joe Biden’s administration, when ICE recorded about 3,800 arrests in the same region.
Enforcement efforts have faced legal challenges. In December, U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled that ICE agents must obtain a warrant before making certain arrests, citing what she described as a “systemic failure” to follow legal requirements.
Despite that ruling, ICE’s monthly arrest totals increased over time. The agency averaged about 700 arrests per month between January and August 2025, rising to roughly 800 per month from September through March. In Maryland, monthly arrests reached about 800 late last year before settling closer to 500 per month in early 2026.
The Department of Homeland Security has not released updated figures on how many of those arrested have been deported. However, officials have pointed to broader trends showing increased departures from the United States during the same period.
“In President Trump’s first year back in office, nearly 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations and more than 675,000 deportations,” then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in January.
Noem also said at the time that federal agencies had located more than 100,000 unaccompanied migrant children previously unaccounted for.
Noem has since been replaced by Markwayne Mullin, who was confirmed by the Senate in March.