Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests have surged since May 2025, when the Trump administration raised its internal daily target from about 1,000 arrests a day to 3,000, part of a broader push to accelerate deportations and expand interior enforcement, Axios reported Thursday.
Citing ICE data compiled by UC Berkeley, the report said the administration remains short of its 3,000-per-day goal, but arrests have risen steadily since President Donald Trump took office in January of this year.
The figures show that while an average of roughly 1,100 deportations per day has held steady in recent weeks, the daily average from Jan. 20 to Oct. 15 was 821.
The higher benchmark was conveyed to ICE leadership during a May 21 meeting involving top White House aide Stephen Miller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, according to prior reporting.
"Since January 20, DHS has arrested nearly 579,000 illegal aliens," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Axios, adding, "This is just the beginning. President Trump and Secretary Noem have jump-started an agency that was vilified and barred from doing its job for the last four years."
ICE has been aided in its mission by other agencies, including Border Patrol and the Secret Service within DHS, as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration and the IRS, to help locate and arrest illegal immigrants.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said that, despite legal challenges from lower courts, deportations will continue.
"The Trump administration is delivering on the president's promise to the American people by carrying out the largest mass deportation operation of criminal illegal aliens in American history," Jackson said.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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