The number of arrests performed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents declined in July following a backlash against anti-immigration raids that led to widespread protests in Southern California.
According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan group that helps organize and distribute government records to the public, ICE officers averaged 990 arrests per day in July, a decline from the daily average of 1,224 arrests the month before and far below the 3,000 immigration-related arrests per day that senior White House adviser Stephen Miller said was the administration's goal.
The report also shows that although arrests declined, removals during July increased by an average of 84 more per day, and TRAC notes that more than 70% of the roughly 57,000 people held in ICE detention facilities, many of whom face minor charges such as traffic violations, have never been convicted of a crime.
The Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Axios that arrests had declined from June to July and criticized "a historic number of injunctions" for preventing the administration from making more arrests.
The decline occurred during the same month that various immigrant advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its arrest and detention tactics.
Last Friday, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court's order to block the immigration agents from conducting indiscriminate stops and arrests in Southern California.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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