Overview
- Arrests have averaged roughly 1,100 per day in early 2026, nearly double last year’s pace despite a recent slight dip, according to a New York Times data analysis.
- Miami led all field offices with nearly 10,000 arrests since mid-December, outpacing St. Paul’s 5,000 during the Minnesota push as Dallas, Atlanta, and San Antonio also recorded higher totals.
- Roughly half of arrests were custodial pickups from local jails or police, with cooperation more common in Republican-led states and far less so in jurisdictions with sanctuary policies.
- Federal judges issued more than 7,000 decisions finding detainees were not given a chance to seek release, and government lawyers frequently conceded bond hearings or releases amid heavy habeas filings and a detained population above 68,000 in early February.
- The White House’s Stephen Miller touted a 3,000-per-day goal that DHS, DOJ, and nominee Markwayne Mullin deny as a quota, as reporting points to an internal ICE list of more than 7 million people on the nondetained docket and a sharp February drop in family bookings at Dilley.