ICE arrests surged to nearly 50,000 in July, marking the highest monthly total so far in Donald Trump’s second term.
Immigration agents recorded 49,571 arrests during the month, up 15 percent from 43,021 in June and 70 percent higher than February’s total, according to ICE figures provided to the University of California, Berkeley.
Texas and Florida were responsible for almost 20,000 of those detentions combined. By comparison, in the month before Trump returned to the White House, ICE arrests were roughly 8,000, PBS News reported.
The agency has pointed to its hiring push as a major reason for the increase. ICE had about 29,000 employees in June, compared with 21,000 when Trump took office again in January 2025, according to the New York Times.
ICE has also moved quickly to broaden a program that gives local police authority to arrest immigrants. Those partnerships now account for about 14 percent of ICE arrests across the country.
Florida says the program has led to 15,000 arrests, while Texas has reported another 10,000 arrests carried out by local officers on ICE’s behalf. In smaller states, including Wyoming and West Virginia, the partnerships are tied to more than half of all ICE arrests.
The newest figures show arrests doubled in two Democratic-led states, New Mexico and New Jersey, despite both passing laws earlier this year limiting cooperation between state officials and ICE. Less populous states, including Vermont and Montana, also saw their arrest totals double.
Trump has steered billions of dollars in new funding to ICE through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, while also expanding contracts with companies such as Palantir to support immigration and border enforcement efforts.
ICE arrested nearly 50,000 migrants in a single month, the highest total of his second term
The latest arrest numbers represent a 15 percent jump from 43,021 in June and a 70 percent increase since February
Trump nominated Mullin to lead Homeland Security just days after firing his predecessor, Kristi Noem
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin promised to shift the administration’s approach to mass deportations, telling senators at his confirmation hearing that he intended to focus on arresting criminal migrants, ‘the worse of the worse.’
However, most immigrants ICE arrested last month had no criminal charge or conviction, and fewer than 4 percent had a past violent conviction, according to the data.
The former Oklahoma senator took over from Kristi Noem, whom Trump fired roughly six weeks after DHS agents shot and killed two American citizens during immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.
The data itself has become contested because Marc Rosenblum, the official in charge of publishing information on immigration arrests and deportations, resigned in late July after a decade at DHS, citing a ‘challenging and often hostile work environment.’
His office grew to 45 people under Biden and has been downsized under the second Trump administration, according to multiple reports.
ICE released no detention or deportation figures between April 9 and July 24, missing multiple semimonthly reports that typically cover arrests, detentions and removals.
Trump began his second term with immigration as his strongest issue, riding four years of Republican fury over what the party called an open border under Joe Biden.
But 19 months into his second White House stint, his standing on the issue has collapsed.
An Economist/YouGov poll conducted in August found 53 percent disapprove, a net rating of minus 13, down from plus 11 at the start of his second term.
A separate AP survey released earlier this month put him at 39 percent approval and 58 percent disapproval on immigration.
Mullin has faced criticism from conservatives in recent months for not being tough enough on immigration enforcement, including from former Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino
Federal agents grab a woman from her car during the Minneapolis crackdown in January 2026
Mullin told senators at his confirmation hearing that he intended to focus only on arresting criminal migrants and deporting the ‘worse of the worse.’
Mullin has also drawn fire from the right, where hardliners accuse him of going soft on immigration enforcement.
Former Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino argued the secretary was undermining mass deportations during a recent interview with Tucker Carlson.
Right-wing figures such as, Laura Loomer and Steve Bannon, have also piled on after Mullin said the claim that immigrants steal American jobs holds in some industries but not all.
Immigration and the cost of living are among several issues dogging Republicans as they head into a midterm election that could cost them their majorities in both chambers of Congress.
The surge in ICE arrests comes after Border Patrol has recorded fewer than 10,000 encounters a month at the southwestern border since February 2025.
Their numbers represent the lowest totals in more than 25 years of available monthly data, according to a Pew Research Center.
