ICE Arrest Surge: Workplace Raids Coming

Tom Homan warns ICE arrests will explode greatly next year, unleashing workplace raids on farms and factories long spared from the deportation dragnet.

Story Snapshot

Trump’s border chief Tom Homan projects dramatic ICE arrest surge in 2026, targeting workplaces avoided in 2025.
Administration set daily quotas starting at 75 arrests per field office, escalating to 3,000 demands by May 2025.
ICE hit over 1,000 daily arrests by late 2025, yet fell short of mass deportation goals due to state resistance.
Civil rights concerns mount with 170+ American citizens detained in raids, per ProPublica reports.
Workplace enforcement expansion threatens labor shortages in agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

Trump Administration Sets Aggressive ICE Quotas from Day One

Trump officials directed senior ICE leaders in January 2025 to hit 75 arrests per day per field office, boosting national totals from hundreds to 1,200-1,500 daily. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem escalated demands in May 2025, ordering 3,000 arrests per day. Miller threatened demotions and firings for shortfalls. ICE responded with workplace raids, a tip line for undocumented reports, and reassigned human trafficking investigators to deportation hunts.

ICE deployed a mapping app tracking over 700,000 deportation targets from agency data. Between January 22-31, 2025, agents arrested 8,200 people, per ICE social media. By late May, weekly arrests hit agency records. Daily averages climbed from 350 in jails in January to over 500 by August, peaking at nearly 700 elsewhere in early June.

Arrests exceeded 1,000 daily by September, focused in cooperating states. CBP in Maine logged 113 arrests in April from 16 countries, highest in 24 years. Tactics included indiscriminate D.C. sweeps and Los Angeles raids based on appearance and jobs.

Leadership Purges Drive Enforcement Acceleration

Senior ICE officials Russell Holt and Peter Berg lost oversight roles over slow deportation ramps. Acting Director Caleb Vitello exited in February 2025 amid frustrations. May realignments boosted operational tempo; Ken Genalo retired but advised as a special employee. These moves aligned ICE with mass deportation mandates.

Detention hit records, with 48% of arrests from local jails enabling swift handoffs. Courts pushed back: Judge Cummings halted some deportations and demanded lists of 3,000+ June arrestees. Supreme Court greenlit biased policing, Kavanaugh concurring.

Civil Rights Violations and Community Fallout

ProPublica documented 170 American citizens detained at raids—likely undercounted—with 20 held over a day sans calls. About 130, including officials, faced charges for interference, mostly dropped. Citizens endured dragging, beatings, tasering.

Immigrant communities hunkered down, shunning public life. States split: Republican areas cooperated via jails; Illinois, New York limited ICE access. New Jersey’s GOP governor candidate lost pushing ICE ties. Prison Policy Initiative credits resistance for curbing goals.

Despite surges, Trump lagged 3,000-arrest target. Homan’s late-2025 pledge shifts to spared workplaces, promising explosion. Facts align with conservative rule-of-law values: secure borders protect citizens first. Indiscriminate errors demand precision, not retreat—common sense favors targeted enforcement over sanctuary shields.