ANALYSIS
War on illegal immigration: ICE made nearly 50,000 arrests in July
Detentions have increased by 70% since February despite protests against immigration raids. The White House says more than 675,000 immigrants have been deported since Trump returned to power.
Immigrants deported at the Mexican border
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out 49,571 arrests in July, the highest monthly figure since Donald Trump began his second term, amid criticism and protests against the agency's operations.
This represents a 15% increase compared to the 43,021 arrests recorded in June and nearly 70% compared to the 29,241 in February, according to ICE figures provided to the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the Associated Press.
The numbers show that operations have continued to increase despite the backlash caused by some raids and the protests held in various cities. According to Just the News, the administration has been replacing some of the large-scale public operations with less visible methods, including arrests in courthouses, immigration checkpoints and increased cooperation with state and local authorities.
Politics
Trump's raids hit the Hispanic community hard, open a rift in the Republican Party
Williams Perdomo
More than 675,000 deportations since Trump's return
Detentions do not automatically equate to deportations. A person detained by ICE may remain in custody or continue through immigration proceedings before being removed.
To gauge the scale of deportations, one of the White House's most recent official reports noted on Feb. 24 that since Trump's return to the presidency, more than 675,000 people have been deported.
The administration stated that another 2.2 million immigrants had voluntarily left the United States, bringing the total number of foreign nationals who have left the country since January 2025 to nearly 3 million, according to the government.
The White House itself reported that, as of the first anniversary of Trump's second term, there had been more than 2.6 million departures—including deportations and voluntary departures—and more than 400,000 deportations of individuals charged with or convicted of crimes.
These latter figures must be distinguished: so-called self-deportations are voluntary departures incentivized or attributed by the government to its immigration policies—not deportations carried out directly by ICE.
ICE carried out more than 350,000 removals during fiscal year 2026 through mid-July, according to agency data cited by U.S. media outlets.
Society
ICE arrested at least 1,328 undocumented immigrants during an operation in Virginia and Maryland
Williams Perdomo
An expanding operation
Texas and Florida have played a particularly significant role in this model of cooperation.
While protests and political debate surrounding ICE operations persist, the nearly 50,000 arrests recorded in July show that Trump's immigration policy, far from slowing down, shows no signs of losing steam.
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