Immigration and Customs Enforcement recorded 49,571 arrests in July, setting the highest monthly arrest total in President Trump's second term, according to recently released government data provided by ICE to the Deportation Data Project based at U.C. Berkeley and UCLA.
The total surge averages out to 1,599 apprehensions a day, and tops June's record-breaking number of 43,021 arrests by 15%.
Since taking over in March, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has pivoted from the confrontational style of immigration enforcement of his predecessor, Kristi Noem. The former head of DHS often accompanied ICE officers on high profile raids, including Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, which left two American citizens dead at the hands of federal agents. Instead Mullin pledged to fulfill the Trump administration's deportation goals while keeping the department out of the headlines. The latest data is reflective of a strategy that is working.
Graeme Blair, co-director of the Deportation Data Project says the uptick is due to Mullin's change in tactics.
"What we're seeing is an expansion in all of the different ways that ICE is detaining people," Blair told NPR. "They're arresting people at airports, at ICE check-ins, at immigration courthouses and this is the result of that."
Blair also noted that the latest figures include the initial wave of arrests of Haitian immigrants whose Temporary Protected Status was revoked in July.
More than half of the nearly 50,000 arrests came from four states: Texas, Florida, California and Georgia. All but California participate in the federal 287(g) program, which allows state and local law enforcement officers to perform certain parts of federal immigration law in the field under ICE's direction and oversight.
As NPR reported, Florida leads the nation with the most local law enforcement agencies with 287(g) agreements. As of last year, all 67 counties had signed cooperation agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to the Florida Sheriffs Association.
Last month's numbers were fueled by billions in immigration enforcement funding from Congress and a hiring spree of thousands of ICE officers.
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