Federal agents arrested hundreds of immigrants off streets across New York and New Jersey in recent months in a stealth enforcement campaign that disproportionately targeted people from Latin American countries, according to an investigation by the nonprofit newsroom the City Reporter published Saturday.
The investigation, based on a review of more than 1,200 habeas corpus petitions filed in federal court, identified 430 street arrests over a five-month period from Oct. 15, 2025, to March 15, 2026. More than 93% of those arrested were from Latin American countries, the City Reporter found, while Latinos make up roughly 66% of immigrants without legal status in the region. The actual number of street arrests is likely far higher — only about one in 10 arrested immigrants filed a habeas petition during the period.
“People seem so normal, walking around without fear,” Rosi, whose boyfriend José was detained and held for 10 days before a judge ordered his release, told the City Reporter in Spanish. The publication identified immigrants only by first name over fear of retaliation in ongoing proceedings.
The street arrests were concentrated in predominantly Latino neighborhoods: Corona, Queens; Passaic and Plainfield, New Jersey; Brentwood and Hempstead, Long Island. Within New York City, the City Reporter said Corona had the highest number of street arrests of any neighborhood. The arrests, which unfolded in minutes on quiet residential streets, often caught immigrants in moments as routine as buying milk, walking a dog, taking out the trash, or picking up children from soccer practice, the report found.
According to accounts in court filings and interviews with the City Reporter, some ICE agents told people they were stopped because they resembled someone the agents had a warrant for, then arrested the person anyway after realizing they had the wrong subject. Other encounters turned violent. The City Reporter identified incidents across the region in which federal agents were accused in court records of using force, including allegedly deploying Tasers, smashing car windows, and bloodying arrestees.
A 21-year-old from the Bronx, in an affidavit submitted in court, alleged that an ICE supervisor discharged a Taser on his legs after he had already fallen to the pavement, breaking a tooth. The Department of Homeland Security told the City Reporter the man had become “assaultive and combative.”
“We don’t know who they are or what happened to them,” said Alexa Avilés, a local New York City council member, describing the frequency of street arrests.
In a statement responding to the City Reporter’s findings, the Department of Homeland Security said: “Allegations that DHS law enforcement engages in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the US — NOT their skin color, race or ethnicity.”
Immigrant advocates across the country have been challenging the arrest tactics in court. The ACLU has sued in California and Minnesota. In April, the New York Civil Liberties Union and other groups brought a class action lawsuit arguing the arrests violate constitutional rights. As previously reported by MSI, a federal judge in New York recently barred most ICE arrests at immigration courthouses in New York City, and the administration’s border czar, Tom Homan, has threatened to “flood the zone” with federal officers.
Last September, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in an opinion related to the ACLU’s California suit that race could be one factor when making arrests. Elora Mukherjee, a Columbia law professor, told the City Reporter the opinion had been used to justify what she described as problematic enforcement.
Some federal judges in New York have condemned ICE’s practices. In a January case where agents mistakenly arrested a 24-year-old from Honduras while looking for someone else, U.S. District Judge Gary Brown, a Trump appointee, wrote that agents “grossly abused their authority.”
“The abhorrent and illegal practices identified in this opinion are not limited to this case but are seemingly being inflicted on a widespread basis,” Brown wrote.
For immigrants who are released, the relief is often temporary. They remain in deportation proceedings while navigating a backlogged immigration court system. Many described living in fear of being taken again.
“They have all the power. They have all the authority,” Fidelina, whose husband Florencio was arrested in Corona and held for four months, told the City Reporter in Spanish. “It doesn’t matter to them how many families they destroy.”