ICE detention population reaches 65,765, up 5,450 since April
Federal immigration agents arrested 43,138 people in June, according to an analysis of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data published by The Guardian on Monday. The figure is the highest monthly arrest count since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, who according to The Guardian had “promised a campaign of mass deportations.”
The number of people held in ICE detention also rose. As of July 11, there were 65,765 people in agency custody, an increase of 5,450 since early April, when the agency last provided a count. The figure remains slightly below the January peak of 70,770. As has been the case since last summer, the number of people in ICE detention without any criminal history exceeds the number who have pending charges or convictions, the data shows.
In total, the administration has deported more than 590,600 people since January 2025.
The rising arrest and detention numbers follow $70 billion in additional funding approved for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both ICE and border enforcement. The White House has reportedly pushed immigration officials to aim for 2,000 arrests every day.
Immigration advocates said the character of enforcement has shifted. Last year, the administration launched operations that advocates described as militarized in cities including Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, but has lately taken a quieter approach, according to The Guardian. After immigration officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — Trump replaced his DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, with Markwayne Mullin, who said he wanted to move away from high-profile operations.
The roving caravans of immigration officers raiding public parks and parking lots have become less common, according to advocates and legal aid groups. Arrests are now happening routinely — at workplaces, outside homes, or during traffic stops, according to the groups. Many immigrants are being detained when they report to ICE offices for mandated check-in appointments. Others are being stopped by police, sheriffs and members of other state and local law enforcement agencies deputized by the federal government to conduct immigration sweeps.
Advocates said the quieter approach has made it harder for community volunteers who once tracked ICE vehicles to monitor where and how agents are operating.
“It’s just happening so quickly. So people can’t get there to observe, record and report what they saw,” said Gracie Willis, an attorney with the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, in a recent interview. “And often all that’s left is an empty car sitting there.”
The data release came after lawmakers across the political spectrum and multiple media organizations, academics, and nonprofits requested that the agency resume its legally required biweekly updates on arrests, detentions, and deportations. Congress has required ICE to publish the data every two weeks since 2019, but the agency had not issued an update since early April until Monday’s release. The Department of Homeland Security blamed the months-long delay on a series of government shutdowns.
The data matches what immigration advocates and attorneys said they have been seeing in communities across the U.S., according to The Guardian. Communities have been on high alert for ICE activity after immigration officers killed two men — Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, and Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, 26 — within a week, sparking protests in cities around the country.