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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained more than 2,200 individuals on Tuesday, marking the highest number of arrests in a single day in the agency’s history.
The operation is part of the Trump administration’s escalated immigration enforcement strategy.
The surge in arrests follows directives from senior administration officials, including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who have set a goal of 3,000 daily arrests. This represents a significant increase from the previous average of 1,800 daily arrests.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day,” the White House official told The New York Post.
“And President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day, so we can get all of the Biden illegals that were flooded into our country for four years out of our country.”
The intensified enforcement has led to overcrowded detention facilities, with ICE currently holding approximately 54,000 individuals, surpassing the 41,500 beds funded by Congress. To address the overflow, ICE is seeking additional facilities through private prison contractors and the Department of Defense, The Post added.
ICE reported arresting 66,463 undocumented migrants and deporting 65,682 individuals during the first 100 days of the Trump administration.
Noem previously announced in February that illegal immigrants must leave immediately or face deportation.
“Tonight, I’m announcing a nationwide and international multimillion-dollar ad campaign warning illegal aliens to leave our country NOW or face deportation with the inability to return to the US. This serves as a strong warning to criminal illegal aliens to not come to America. If they do, they will be hunted down and deported,” she posted in a video to X.
Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy also warned blue states in April to comply with Trump’s executive orders or risk losing transportation funding.
“That means recipients that have policies that actively fail to protect Americans’ right to free speech, continue to use discriminatory DEI policies, and disrupt federal agencies (like ICE) as they work to enforce federal immigration laws could face enforcement action,” a representative for Duffy shared.
