ICE arrests 32K in Trump's first 50 days, nearly matching all of last year

(TNND) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement nearly matched all of last year’s arrests in just the first 50 days of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, the Department of Homeland Security said.

ICE agents made 32,809 enforcement arrests in Trump’s first 50 days. Nearly half were convicted criminals, and DHS said about a third have pending criminal charges.

ICE made 33,242 of those at-large arrests in all of fiscal year 2024.

Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, previously told The National News Desk’s Kristine Frazao that they’re going after illegally present immigrants with criminal backgrounds first.

But Homan has said any immigrant who isn’t authorized to be in the country is fair game to be arrested and deported.

ICE arrested 1,155 criminal gang members in Trump’s first 50 days. DHS said that’s almost two and a half times the number arrested during the same period a year ago.

Close to 40 known or suspected terrorists were arrested.

The National Sheriffs' Association president applauded the crackdown on Friday.

“We as sheriffs think it's long overdue,” said Sheriff Kieran Donahue of Canyon County, Idaho, who also serves as NSA president.

Donahue, who was visiting Washington, D.C., to meet with federal government officials, said he’s been traveling a lot since Trump returned to the White House and has seen excitement from most sheriffs about the more enforcement-based approach to immigration.

“The numbers are huge, and it shows what can be done if we as a country have the will to do the right thing,” Donahue said.

Ernesto Sagás, an expert in politics and U.S. immigration policies who teaches at Colorado State University, recently said the Trump administration is making “a PR blitz” out of immigration arrests, and it’s working as a deterrent to new border crossings.

Trump campaigned on tougher border security and immigration policies. True to his campaign promises, Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border on Day 1 of his administration.

Customs and Border Protection this week announced a 94% drop in southern border encounters with migrants who crossed illegally this February compared to last February.

Border Patrol registered about 8,300 southwest border encounters last month compared to about 140,000 last February.

CBP said it’s no longer catching and releasing illegal immigrants.

And ICE is filling its newsroom and social media feed with examples of the criminals or alleged criminals its agents are rounding up for prosecution or deportation.

On Friday, ICE announced the deportation of a Mexican man who had illegally entered the U.S. at least eight times and had been convicted of numerous criminal offenses while in the U.S., including kidnapping, driving while intoxicated and illegal entry.

And ICE announced the removal of a woman who illegally entered the U.S. at least six times and has over a dozen criminal convictions, including six for DWI and six for theft or larceny.

In Northern Virginia, ICE and its law enforcement partners arrested more than 200 immigrant offenders during an enhanced operation focused on gangs.

Donahue said there’s “no question” the increased immigration enforcement is making American cities safer.

But he said federal authorities will have trouble keeping up the pace.

Donahue said criminals now know the Trump administration is serious in its crackdown, “And I think it'll drive them underground.”

He said enhanced collaboration between local and federal law enforcement officials will help augment ICE in its mission. Donahue said there are programs that will let local officers serve as a force multiplier or execute administrative warrants in county jails.

Donahue said the Trump administration has “stopped facilitating the invasion” with the discontinuation of the CBP One app that allowed migrants to schedule appointments at ports of entry to request asylum,

CBP has even launched a new app that encourages immigrants in the country illegally to notify the government of their intent to self-deport.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CBS News that the new app lets unauthorized immigrants “choose to go home on their own and keep their families united.”

“Remember, they have an option to go home on their own,” she said. “We are giving them that opportunity to do that, and we will help facilitate that. And if they don't, and they end up coming into our enforcement opportunities that we have in front of us, you know, they may never get the chance to come back. So, people need to remember, if they self-deport, they will have an opportunity to come back to this country legally.”

Sagás told TNND that Trump frames his anti-immigration policies as anti-crime policies.

“It's this rhetoric that immigrants are a clear, present danger to American society, and the best thing we can do is to get rid of as many of them as we can,” Sagás said.

But criminologist Alex Piquero said that despite concerns, the statistical evidence doesn’t show that immigrants cause more crime.

“Yeah, so, the evidence on that for over a dozen years is unequivocally clear that immigrants do not commit more crime than native-born Americans. That's true for serious crime, as well,” Piquero, a professor at the University of Miami and a former director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, told TNND last year.

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Piquero said data collection has been limited, but the research has produced consistent results.

The FBI relies on crime data from thousands of police agencies across the country in order to publish national statistics, and most agencies don’t flag immigration status during an arrest.

Piquero and some colleagues turned to Texas several years back for some answers, as it’s one place where immigration status is recorded when people are arrested.

There, they found that American citizens were 1.19 times more likely to be arrested than immigrants, all else equal.

The same held true for violent crimes (citizens 1.18 times more likely to be arrested) and drug offenses (citizens 1.67 times more likely).