The administration of President Donald Trump conducted nationwide Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the first week of his re-election. On Sunday alone, the agency reported 956 arrests.
By Thursday, over 1,300 people had been arrested, according to “border czar” Tom Homan. Approximately 1.1% of all ICE arrests in FY 2024 were made during the first three days of Trump’s presidency. At that time, the average number of arrests per day was around 310. Today, that average is roughly 433 each day, and it will probably continue to rise.
Emil Bove, acting deputy attorney general, reported that he saw DHS immigration agents as well as FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives agents. He provided no information about the operation, which took place days after DHS gave the DEA and ATF more immigration-related authority.
Bove stated in a statement that they will stand with everyone who joins this vital mission to reclaim their communities at the federal, state, and local levels. To combat obstruction and other illegal barriers to their efforts to safeguard the motherland, they will employ every instrument at their disposal. Above all, they won’t stop working till the task is finished.
“Dr. Phil” McGraw, a daytime television psychologist, interviewed Homan and livestreamed the Chicago operation on his multiplatform TV network MERIT TV, and several other reporters were also invited to Sunday’s operation. The Associated Press plans to observe operations this week.
Images of Bove and Homan with ATF and Customs and Border Protection agents were shared on social media by the DEA’s Chicago branch.
Similar immigration enforcement actions, which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says are ongoing, have been made public nationwide since Trump took office. Additional weekend activities were reported in at least Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Nebraska, and Texas, according to social media posts from other DEA and Homeland Security offices.
