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Yet not every blue stronghold is seeing the same fervor. While states like New Jersey and New York also host large immigrant communities, their arrest increases under Trump have been comparatively mild. The sharpest spikes have been concentrated in Southern and Western states that generally align with the President’s hardline immigration stance.
The newly disclosed figures, unearthed through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the Deportation Data Project at UC Berkeley’s School of Law, paint the clearest picture yet of Trump’s relentless immigration clampdown. These records zero in on the actions of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division, the agency’s boots-on-the-ground deportation arm.
And those boots are moving fast. The Times reports that since Trump’s return, ICE has more than doubled its daily arrest pace. Agents are now detaining an average of 666 people per day, a dramatic increase from fewer than 300 daily arrests recorded in 2024.
Despite the aggressive uptick, Miller appears far from satisfied. The Times notes that in a May 21 briefing with ICE field office leaders, Miller “reportedly set a goal of 3,000 arrests per day.” Since that meeting, daily arrest figures have surged, with ICE averaging more than 1,100 arrests per day during the first 10 days of June—the highest numbers reflected in the newly obtained data.
To meet those ambitious targets, ICE has resorted to more robust tactics. The agency has been snaring migrants during routine check-ins and even at court hearings—a strategy that’s become a lightning rod for critics. Many detainees picked up at courthouses are now being funneled into expedited removal, a streamlined deportation process that bypasses traditional legal hearings and eliminates migrants’ ability to argue their case before a judge.
“At the end of 2024, only about 5 percent of those arrested were subjected to expedited removal. By June, that figure had jumped to 15 percent,” the Times noted, attributing the increase to the administration’s rollback of legal safeguards for newly arrived migrants.
One of the starkest examples of the crackdown can be found in Idaho. The Times highlighted that “Idaho, where the data shows ICE made 77 arrests last year, saw the biggest change. Since Jan. 20, ICE has made more than 300 arrests there, more than two per day on average.”
States across the South are also seeing a seismic shift. “Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia have seen the fastest increase in ICE enforcement relative to the size of their immigrant populations. ICE has arrested more than 4,000 people in those states combined, compared with around 2,500 in the same span in 2024.”
Republicans have long contended that Democrats champion mass illegal immigration to artificially boost the populations of Democrat-leaning states and eventually push for mass amnesty to secure future votes. Trump’s determined push for large-scale deportations could deal a devastating blow to both those objectives.
While immigration activists decry the crackdown as cruel and unjust, supporters argue it’s exactly what voters demanded. Protests have already flared in cities like Los Angeles, where demonstrators recently clashed with local police and federal agents amid mounting tension over the new wave of arrests.
But the administration remains undeterred. The numbers show Trump is not simply talking tough on immigration—his team is executing a high-speed operation to remove illegal aliens from every corner of the country. Whether ICE will ultimately reach Miller’s towering goal of 3,000 daily arrests remains to be seen. But if current trends continue, America’s immigration landscape could look very different by the close of Trump’s second term.
