The Berkeley Immigration Data Project at the University of California recently published a report revealing that nearly 75,000 immigrants with no criminal history were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a large-scale immigration operation from 20/1 to 15/10.
"This figure completely contradicts the administration's claim that they only target criminal immigrants and the worst offenders," stated Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior analyst at the Migration Policy Institute.
Senior officials from President Donald Trump's administration previously declared their enforcement operations would only focus on "murderers, rapists, and gang members."
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ICE agents arrested a suspected undocumented immigrant in Silver Spring, Maryland, in January. Photo: AP |
These statistics were compiled by ICE's internal office and obtained by the Berkeley project through a lawsuit against the agency. For the group arrested with criminal records, the data does not clearly distinguish between minor offenses and serious felonies such as rape or murder.
During the operation, 90% of the 220,000 individuals arrested by ICE agents were men. Mexican citizens constituted the largest proportion, with approximately 85,000 individuals, followed by Guatemala with 31,000 and Honduras with 24,000. Over 60% of those arrested were between the ages of 25 and 45.
The exact number of individuals deported is unclear, but 22,959 cases were classified as "voluntary departures." Currently, ICE detains approximately 65,000 immigrants in centers across the United States, according to Department of Homeland Security data.
ICE has faced significant pressure regarding immigration arrest targets. In May, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller even threatened to fire ICE leaders if they failed to increase arrests to at least 3,000 individuals per day.
New data indicates that ICE remains far from this goal. Since 20/1, ICE agents have conducted an average of only 824 arrests per day, although this figure is more than double the average in 2024, during President Joe Biden's term.
The figures released by the Berkeley project do not include arrests made by border patrol forces, who are conducting numerous intensive operations in cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Charlotte, and New Orleans.
"That remains a gap in our knowledge. How many people did border patrol arrest, how many cases resulted in deportation, and under what conditions were they deported," Ruiz Soto noted.
Thanh Tam (According to NBC News)
