ICE arrested a record number of people without criminal records in summer enforcement surge, new data shows

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August 26, 2026 / 6:24 PM EDT

/ CBS News

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a record high of more than 800 people without criminal records a day in July on average, new federal data shows. The surge in arrests comes as the White House pushes the agency to hit a target of 2,000 per day.July is the first month in President Trump's second term when people with only civil immigration violations — rather than pending criminal charges or convictions — made up more than half of those arrested. An average of more than 1,580 people were arrested each day in July, also a new high for the current administration.Enforcement ramped up this summer after a drop following public backlash to the Department of Homeland Security's operation in Minneapolis, a funding standoff and a shake-up in DHS leadership. But, as has been the case with ICE's previous big city crackdowns, rising arrest totals come with spikes in community arrests of people without criminal records.Administration officials have repeatedly claimed that their enforcement efforts are focused on "the worst of the worst" and often tout arrests of immigrants with violent criminal convictions. Those with convictions for violent crimes as defined by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics make up about 6% of all those booked into ICE detention under the current administration, and about 4% of those taken into custody in July, the data show. "ICE enforces the law as written. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the U.S.— full stop," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News. "Many of the individuals that are counted as 'non-criminals' are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gangsters and more; they just don't have a rap sheet in the U.S."The data, obtained from ICE by the Deportation Data Project run by the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA, does not provide information about immigrants' alleged crimes in other countries. CBS News asked DHS to provide that data.White House border czar Tom Homan has said that sanctuary policies that prevent local law enforcement from turning over people held in jails and prisons to ICE force them to "flood the zone" and deploy more resources to such cities to find and arrest their targets and anyone else they encounter living in the U.S. illegally. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has made similar claims.