US immigration agents arrested more than 49,500 people in July

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 49,571 people in July, the highest in a month since President Donald Trump took office for his second term, according to the latest figures available.

The figures for July showed a rise of roughly 15 percent over June’s count and about 70 percent above February’s total, according to government data provided by ICE to the Deportation Data Project based at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Los Angeles and analysed by The Associated Press news agency.

The month before Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025, monthly arrests were slightly more than 8,000, a figure largely made up of immigrants transferred from city or state jails and prisons and turned over to ICE to remove from the country.

In his first year back in office, the monthly numbers started climbing as officials eased limits on where and whom agents could target. By December, monthly arrests had surpassed 40,000.

In the aftermath of two fatal shootings in Minnesota in January that led to protests and an uproar from Democratic lawmakers, arrests began to fall in February. After remaining stagnant for months, the numbers surged in June and then again in July.

Nearly 20,000 of the July arrests happened in Texas and Florida. Both states have taken part in cooperation deals with ICE known as 287(g) agreements that enable local law enforcement to essentially operate as additional arms for immigration enforcement.

The expanding arrest campaign comes after a hiring drive, with ICE bringing on roughly 12,000 additional officers and agents last year.