ICE detention bookings climbed to Trump-era high in June
New ICE data reviewed by CBS News shows more than 43,000 people entered immigration detention in June as arrests accelerated.
By Sal Moretti · Money Reporter
3 min read
More than 43,000 people were placed in immigration detention in June, the largest monthly count since President Trump returned to the White House, according to newly released Immigration and Customs Enforcement data reported by CBS News.
The rise came after pressure from the White House for ICE to step up arrests. Sources inside ICE previously told CBS News that agents had been told to aim for 2,000 arrests a day. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said ICE does not use arrest quotas.
ICE averaged 1,438 arrests per day in June, according to the data. For the first 11 days of July, the average rose to 1,593 arrests per day.
The increase has come without the kind of large, public enforcement actions previously seen in Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities. CBS News reported that monthly arrest totals fell after Operation Metro Surge, a Minnesota crackdown, ended in February, but have since moved back up.
The agency has also faced renewed attention after ICE officers fatally shot two men during vehicle stops in Texas and Maine this month, CBS News reported. Both men were not the original targets of the ICE operations, according to the report.
Tom Homan, the administration’s border czar, told Fox News on Monday, “ICE isn’t leaving the streets at all.” After the interview, he told reporters that numbers had dipped for several months because the department was “shut down,” referring to an earlier congressional fight over Homeland Security funding.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said at his confirmation hearing that he wanted an enforcement approach that would keep ICE out of daily headlines. Speaking to reporters Friday, he defended the agency’s work and said arrests were “hitting single-day records every single day.”
“I’ve turned down the temperature of the stove to try to get it correct without boiling over,” Mullin said. “When I say turn down the temperature, I turn down the temperature with you guys. We’re turning up the heat on the streets. We’re out there working harder than we ever have because we’ve empowered our law enforcement to do their job.”
After the Texas and Maine shootings, ICE agents were ordered to pause most vehicle stops, CBS News reported. Trump then posted on Truth Social reversing that move, calling vehicle stops one of ICE’s “most important and effective Crime Fighting tools.”
Homan backed that decision in a July 15 interview with the Center for Immigration Studies. “The president made it clear this morning: He wants ICE out there doing their job, and that’s what’s gonna happen,” he said.
The June arrest jump appears to have pushed the detention population upward as well. ICE data shows an average of about 59,400 people in custody in June, up from 58,200 in May. During the first 11 days of July, the average topped 65,600.
The average detention population had fallen each month earlier this year after reaching roughly 72,000 in January, according to CBS News.
People without criminal records are again driving much of the increase, the ICE data shows. From May to June, the average detained population with no criminal record rose 3%, while those with criminal convictions rose 1%. In the first 11 days of July, the average number of detained people without criminal records rose 20% from June, from nearly 22,000 to just over 26,000.
Over that same period, the detained populations with criminal convictions and with pending criminal charges each rose 5%, according to the data. As of July 11, 29% of those detained had criminal convictions and 31% had pending criminal charges.
Homan emphasized the combined share on Fox News, saying, “When it comes to immigration enforcement, the majority of people we are arresting, despite the lies being told by the left, are criminals.”
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.