Immigration enforcement actions have begun to spread throughout major U.S. cities since President Donald Trump returned to office.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), 956 persons were taken into custody on Sunday. However, according to an NBC News investigation, immigration officials made around 1,200 arrests that day, with only 613 of those arrests—or roughly 52%—being classified as criminal charges.
The remaining individuals seemed to be either nonviolent criminals or those who had only crossed the border illegally. Being undocumented is not a criminal; rather, it is a civil offense.
The bureau reported that 1,179 arrests and 853 detainers were made on Monday, and the number of arrests increased once more the next day.
There has been worry that law-abiding migrants and those with permits may also be apprehended, despite the Trump administration’s claims that the operation is aimed at criminals. Numbers separating migrants in custody with criminal history from those without have not been made public by officials.
According to three people familiar with the planning, the Trump administration intends to carry out significant immigration raids in three American cities each week. All hands on deck was how one of the sources characterized the proceedings.
Chicago operations started on Sunday, New York City operations started on Tuesday, and according to three authorities, they are preparing for the next operation in Aurora, Colorado, on Thursday. ICE, the U.S. Marshalls, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the DEA, the FBI, and other government agencies are participating in the raids.
Three more cities will be targeted next week.
According to the sources, ICE’s 25 field offices were instructed to improve their daily operations by hitting a daily quota of 1,200 to 1,500 arrests during a meeting with high leadership over the weekend. The Washington Post was the first to report about the quota.
Arrests have occurred in the following major cities:
New York City
Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, joined the immigrant enforcement efforts that started Tuesday morning in New York.
Making our streets safe is precisely what President @realDonaldTrump promised the American people, and we are doing it correctly. Live from New York City this morning. Noem wrote on X, “I’m on it.”
Later, she posted a video of someone getting arrested and adding, “A criminal alien who is currently in custody on charges of kidnapping, assault, and burglary.”
The New York DEA office shared a number of images on X that showed numerous arrests while stating that it was collaborating with other federal law enforcement agencies on immigration crackdowns.
Chicago
Crackdowns on migrant arrests occurred in Chicago on Sunday.
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, told NBC News that several of the individuals detained in Chicago were gang members, two had prior convictions for murder and aggravated sexual battery, and six had major convictions.
On Monday, more arrests were made. A source with knowledge of the activities stated on Monday that ten distinct teams, each consisting of roughly ten federal agents, are dispersed throughout the city. According to the source, teams comprise officers from other federal agencies in addition to ICE.
Chicago is a sanctuary city that offers protection to immigrants who are applying for naturalization. Cooperation between immigration authorities and city police is forbidden under those rules, according to NBC Chicago. In a statement posted on X, Mayor Brandon Johnson affirmed that Chicago police had nothing to do with the ICE operation.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker told CNN on Sunday that while he is in favor of deporting those convicted of violent crimes, he opposes targeting law-abiding citizens, stating that these individuals are not generating issues for our nation and that we should provide them with a road to citizenship.
In anticipation of the crackdown, city officials and immigrant rights organizations have launched campaigns to warn immigrants of their rights in the event of an arrest.
Los Angeles
The DEA and Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles offices announced that they were collaborating with partners to carry out law enforcement activities in line with the immigration policies of the Trump administration.
Photos of law enforcement officers in green uniforms putting people into custody were shared by the offices.
Late last year, the city council formally passed a sanctuary city rule that forbids the use of local assets or employees to support federal immigration enforcement, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Phoenix
The DEA’s Phoenix office shared images of personnel wearing law enforcement vests on Sunday, stating that it was assisting the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security with their immigration efforts.
San Diego
Photos of agents making arrests on Sunday were also posted on X by the DEA’s San Diego branch.
Denver
Many people affiliated to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, or TdA, were arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Field Division on Sunday after they carried out a search warrant at a makeshift club in Denver.
ICE found that at least 41 of the 49 individuals within the building at the time were not authorized to be in the United States.
Miami
Miami saw raids on Sunday as well.
A Nicaraguan national who was being held at the Broward County Jail on outstanding charges of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, unauthorized carry of a concealed weapon, firing a firearm in public, and driving with a suspended license was among those apprehended, according to the ICE Miami office.
The Jamaican national was also taken into custody on suspicion of possessing oxycodone, operating a car without a valid license, and exhibiting a firearm during a felony offense.
Miami’s Homeland Security Investigation agency posted images of agents holding people on X. The arrests, according to the administration, were the consequence of outstanding cooperation in upholding American immigration laws and guaranteeing community safety.
Atlanta
In support of the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, and other federal law enforcement partners’ immigration enforcement activities in Atlanta, the DEA’s Atlanta office said on Sunday that it took part in an operation.
Wilson Rogelio Vel squez Cruz, an immigrant from Honduras, was detained inside a Tucker church called Iglesia Fuente de Vida, according to his relatives, who spoke to Atlanta’s NBC affiliate WXIA.
According to his relatives, agents first visited his house and then his church.
According to his wife, who spoke to the channel, he entered the country in 2022 with his wife and three kids on a work permit that was good for four more years as he awaited the outcome of an asylum case. His detention was the first time he had been held since crossing the border, and he had been given an immigration GPS monitor.
Various cities in Texas
According to an ICE officer who spoke to NBC News, ICE carried out targeted operations in North Texas on Sunday, including in Dallas, Irving, Arlington, Fort Worth, and Collin County, which led to the arrest of at least 84 persons.
According to the official, several of them were singled out because of varied levels of criminal activity in their past. Collateral arrests, or arrests of people who just so happened to be in the vicinity of a targeted individual, accounted for a portion of the apprehensions. How many of the 84 were collateral arrests is unknown.
Seattle
On XMonday, the Seattle DEA office posted pictures of two arrests: one of an alleged MS-13 gang member who was arrested in Federal Way, Washington, and another of an alleged illegal alien who was apprehended during a drug investigation in Wilsonville, Oregon. The post also stated that the DEA office was collaborating with Department of Justice Partners and other federal agencies in immigration enforcement efforts.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
“I would like to express my solidarity with all the families affected by these measures,” said San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero on Sunday, acknowledging the implementation of Trump’s immigration executive order. Additionally, I want to make it clear that I have not yet received official notification from any federal body regarding the specifics of the procedures being implemented in our community.
According to him, the operations are not being supported or collaborated with by San Juan’s government agencies or municipal police.
According to the mayor, San Juan will help people in need by offering orientation, citizenship lessons, and support to make sure their rights are upheld and due process is followed. Romero added, “I have instructed the Office of Immigrant Assistance to provide the resources required to optimize our endeavors.”
“San Juan will remain a place where diversity and inclusion are highly valued under my administration,” he continued.