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 report, immigration officials made around 1,200 arrests that day, but only 613 of them—or roughly 52%—were classified as criminal arrests.
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 following day, the number of arrests increased once further, according to the agency, which reported that 1,179 arrests and 853 detainers were made on Monday.
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 inmates with criminal records 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 officials, the next operation is scheduled for Thursday in Aurora, Colorado. But according to two people with knowledge of the plot, media leaks caused the Aurora operation to be temporarily canceled on Wednesday. According to one source, the officers involved faced an operational security risk as a result of the leaks.
ICE, U.S. Marshalls, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, and other federal agencies are participating in the searches.
Three more locations are anticipated to 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.
At least 4,829 people had been arrested as a result of the crackdowns since the inauguration as of Tuesday afternoon. According to the most recent data available, the Biden administration detained 282 people on average every day in September 2024. The daily average for the Trump administration over the past six days is 753.
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 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.”
Mayor Eric Adams confirmed that a criminal suspect in New York City had been brought into custody in a statement regarding what seemed to be the arrest Noem referenced.
In order to conduct a targeted operation to apprehend a person linked to numerous violent crimes, both in New York and Aurora, Colorado, including burglary, kidnapping, extortion, firearm possession, menacing with a firearm, crime of violence, and other charges, I instructed the NYPD to coordinate with DHS Homeland Security Investigations and other federal law enforcement agencies as permitted by law, he said.
As we have done for years, Adams stated, we will not think twice about collaborating with federal law enforcement to apprehend violent offenders. We are steadfast in our resolve to defend the law-abiding citizens and foreign-born people of our community.
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. According to a source with knowledge of the operations, ten groups of roughly ten federal agents each were dispersed throughout the city on Monday.
Chicago offers protection to immigrants pursuing citizenship as a sanctuary city. 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 opposes targeting law-abiding citizens, he is in favor of deporting those convicted of violent crimes. We need to give them a route to citizenship since they are not the ones generating issues in our nation,” he stated.
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.
The offices posted pictures of police officers apprehending individuals.
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.
Philadelphia
On Tuesday, video captured multiple individuals being arrested close to a Philadelphia company. Seven persons were arrested in what the immigrant rights organization Juntos described as an ICE raid.
According to NBC Philadelphia, the raid took place at a car wash in the Juniata Park neighborhood.
A request for information and comment Tuesday evening was not immediately answered by ICE.
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.
At least 41 of the 49 individuals inside at the time were found to be in the country illegally by ICE.
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.
Images of agents holding people were posted on X by the Miami Homeland Security Investigation office. 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
San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero acknowledged the implementation of Trump s immigration executive order on Sunday, saying: I would like to express my solidarity with all the families affected by these measures. Likewise, I would like to clarify that, up to this moment, I have not been officially notified by any federal authority about the details of the processes that are being carried out in our city.
He said that neither municipal police nor government entities under San Juan’s jurisdiction are collaborating or supporting the operations.
The mayor said San Juan will offer support and provide orientation, citizenship classes and assistance to those who need it to ensure that their rights are respected and that due process of law is complied with. I have directed the Office of Immigrant Assistance to make available the necessary resources to maximize our efforts, Romero also said.
Under my administration, San Juan will continue to be a place where diversity and inclusion are deeply valued, he added.