Following President Donald Trump’s return to workplace on January 20 with a vow to crack down on unlawful immigrants, immigration enforcement operations have began to comb by main cities in the USA.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stated it arrested 956 individuals on Sunday. However an NBC Information report discovered immigration authorities had near 1,200 arrests that day and simply 613, or practically 52%, had been thought-about “felony arrests.”
The remaining seemed to be nonviolent offenders or individuals who haven’t dedicated any felony offence apart from crossing the border illegally. Being undocumented immigrant is taken into account a civil offence, not a criminal offense.
Arrest numbers swelled once more the next day, because the company stated it made 1,179 arrests and 853 detainers had been lodged Monday.
Whereas the Trump administration has touted the crackdown as concentrating on criminals, there was concern over law-abiding migrants and people with permits additionally being rounded up. Officers haven’t disclosed numbers differentiating migrants with felony histories and people with out who’re in custody.
Operations started Sunday in Chicago, New York Metropolis started Tuesday, and three officers stated they had been planning for the following operation to happen in Aurora, Colorado, on Thursday.
The raids are being carried out with ICE; U.S. Marshalls; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; FBI and different federal businesses.
Subsequent week, three extra cities are anticipated to be focused.
ICE’s 25 discipline workplaces had been informed in a gathering with senior management over the weekend to boost their “routine operations” by assembly a quota of between 1,200 to 1,500 arrests per day, the sources stated. The quota was first reported by the Washington Publish.
As of Tueday afternoon, there have been at the very least 4,829 arrests within the crackdowns since inauguration. In September 2024, the newest knowledge accessible, the Biden administration arrested a mean of 282 individuals per day. Over the past six days, the Trump administration’s every day common is 753.
Listed below are the foremost cities the place arrests have unfolded:
New York Metropolis:
Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem joined immigrant enforcement operations in New York that started Tuesday.
“We’re doing this proper — doing precisely what President. @realDonaldTrump promised the American individuals — making our streets secure. Reside this AM from NYC. I am on it,” Noem wrote on X.
She later shared video exhibiting an individual being detained, writing, “felony alien with kidnapping, assault & housebreaking fees is now in custody.”
Mayor Eric Adams issued an announcement on what seemed to be the arrest Noem talked about, confirming {that a} felony suspect in New York Metropolis was taken into custody.
“I directed the NYPD to coordinate with DHS’ Homeland Safety Investigations and different federal legislation enforcement businesses — as allowed by legislation — to conduct a focused operation to arrest a person linked with a number of violent crimes, each right here in New York and in Aurora, Colorado, together with housebreaking, kidnapping, extortion, firearms possession, menacing with a firearm, crime of violence, and different fees,” he stated.
Adams stated, “we is not going to hesitate to accomplice with federal authorities to carry violent criminals to justice — simply as we have now executed for years. Our dedication to defending our metropolis’s law-abiding residents, each residents and immigrants, stays unwavering.”
The New York DEA workplace posted a number of photographs on X saying it was working with different federal legislation enforcement companions in immigration crackdowns, exhibiting the arrests of a number of individuals.
Chicago:
In Chicago, migrant arrest crackdowns befell Sunday.
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, informed NBC Information that among the many individuals arrested in Chicago, six had been convicted of significant offences, two had been beforehand convicted of homicide and aggravated sexual battery, and a number of others had been gang members.
Arrest efforts continued Monday. There have been 10 groups of about 10 federal brokers every fanned out throughout town, a supply aware of the operations stated Monday.
Chicago is a sanctuary metropolis that protects migrants searching for citizenship. Underneath these protections, cooperation between metropolis police and immigration brokers is prohibited, NBC Chicago reported. Mayor Brandon Johnson confirmed in an announcement on X that Chicago police weren’t concerned within the ICE exercise.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker informed CNN on Sunday he helps deporting individuals convicted of violent crimes, however disagrees with concentrating on those that comply with the legislation. “These will not be people who find themselves inflicting issues in our nation, and what we want is a path to citizenship for them,” he stated.
Los Angeles:
The Los Angeles workplaces of Homeland Safety Investigations and the DEA stated they had been working with companions to conduct legislation enforcement operations in accordance with the Trump administration’s immigration priorities.
The workplaces shared photographs of legislation enforcement brokers taking individuals into custody.
The Metropolis Council formally adopted a sanctuary metropolis ordinance late final yr that prohibits metropolis assets or personnel from getting used to assist in federal enforcement of immigration legal guidelines, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Philadelphia:
Video confirmed a number of individuals being detained close to a Philadelphia enterprise on Tuesday. The immigration rights group Juntos stated it was an ICE raid and that seven individuals had been detained.
The raid occurred at a automotive wash within the Juniata Park neighborhood, NBC Philadelphia reported.
ICE didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark or particulars Tuesday night time.
Phoenix:
The Phoenix workplace of the DEA stated Sunday it was working with the Division of Justice and Division of Homeland Safety “with their immigration efforts,” sharing photographs of officers in legislation enforcement vests.
San Diego:
The DEA’s San Diego workplace additionally shared on X photographs of brokers arresting individuals on Sunday.
Denver:
On Sunday, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Subject Division executed a search warrant at a makeshift membership in Denver and arrested “quite a few people” related and linked with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, or TdA.
Forty-nine individuals had been inside on the time, and ICE decided at the very least 41 had been within the U.S. illegally.
Miami:
Raids additionally unfolded in Miami on Sunday.
The ICE Miami workplace stated that amongst these arrested was a Nicaraguan nationwide who was being held on the Broward County Jail with pending fees of aggravated assault with a lethal weapon, illegal carry of hid weapon, discharging a firearm in public and driving with a suspended license.
A Jamaican nationwide was additionally arrested on fees of possession of oxycodone, displaying a firearm throughout a felony offense and working a automobile with out a legitimate license.
The Homeland Safety Investigation workplace in Miami shared on X photographs of brokers detaining individuals. The workplace stated the arrests had been the results of “glorious collaboration” to implement “U.S. immigration legal guidelines and guaranteeing the protection of our communities.”
Atlanta:
The DEA’s Atlanta workplace stated Sunday it participated in an operation supporting the Justice Division, Division of Homeland Safety and different federal legislation enforcement companions with “their immigration enforcement efforts” in Atlanta.
Wilson Rogelio Velásquez Cruz, a Honduran immigrant, was arrested at Iglesia Fuente de Vida, a church in Tucker, his household informed NBC affiliate WXIA of Atlanta.
His household stated brokers went to his house first, then his church.
His spouse informed the station that he arrived within the U.S. in 2022 along with his spouse and three kids below a piece allow whereas awaiting a pending asylum case, and that let was legitimate for 4 extra years. He had been issued an immigration GPS monitor and his arrest marked the primary time he was detained since crossing the border.
Varied cities in Texas:
ICE performed “focused operations” in North Texas on Sunday, together with in Dallas, Irving, Arlington, Fort Price and Collin County that resulted in at the very least 84 individuals apprehended, an ICE official informed NBC Information.
Lots of them had been focused as a consequence of “various levels of criminality” of their background, the official stated. A number of the apprehensions had been “collateral” arrests — that means individuals who occurred to be the place a focused particular person was positioned. It is unclear how lots of the 84 had been collateral arrests.
Seattle:
The DEA workplace in Seattle wrote on X Monday that it was working with Division of Justice Companions and different federal businesses in immigration enforcement efforts and shared photographs of two arrests: One being an alleged MS-13 gang member detained in Federal Method, Washington, and one other being an alleged unlawful alien “encountered throughout a drug investigation” in Wilsonville, Oregon.
San Juan, Puerto Rico:
San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero acknowledged the implementation of Trump’s immigration government order on Sunday, saying: “I wish to specific my solidarity with all of the households affected by these measures. Likewise, I wish to make clear that, as much as this second, I’ve not been formally notified by any federal authority concerning the particulars of the processes which might be being carried out in our metropolis.”
He stated that neither municipal police nor authorities entities below San Juan’s jurisdiction are collaborating or supporting the operations.
The mayor stated San Juan will supply help and supply “orientation, citizenship courses and help to those that want it to make sure that their rights are revered and that due strategy of legislation is complied with. I’ve directed the Workplace of Immigrant Help to make accessible the mandatory assets to maximise our efforts,” Romero additionally stated.
“Underneath my administration, San Juan will proceed to be a spot the place variety and inclusion are deeply valued,” he added.
