ICE agents arrested a record number of people in June, according to a CBS News analysis of newly released Immigration and Customs Enforcement data.
As reported on Thursday’s AM Update, the agency arrested more than 43,000 people over the course of the month, marking the largest monthly tally of President Donald Trump’s second term.
According to CBS News, June’s arrest total averaged out to 1,438 arrests per day, and data for the first 11 days of July averages to 1,593 arrests per day. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told the outlet ICE does not have arrest quotas despite some reporting to the contrary.
Notably, the increase occurred without the kind of sweeping, highly visible enforcement operations previously launched in several major cities under the direction of former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
She has since been replaced by former Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin, who told reporters last Friday that the department is deliberately keeping a lower profile under his leadership while intensifying enforcement and setting new daily arrest records.
“442,637 total deported last year in [2025]. To date… we have 403,294 that we’ve done in 2026. Our arrests are up. We’re hitting single-day records every single day,” Mullin explained. “But what we’ve done is I’ve turned down the temperature of the stove to try to get it correct, without boiling over.”
He put the “total removal” figure at 3 million and noted that 70 percent of the daily apprehensions are “felons or have pending felony charges.”
The record-setting June total marks a sharp turnaround from the significant drops in ICE arrests earlier this year. White House Border Czar Tom Homan has attributed that slowdown to the 76-day partial shutdown that directly impacted DHS during a major budget standoff in Congress.
“When you shut the government down, there’s going to be less to do. I was very honest from day one,” Homan told reporters. “The numbers were down 12 to 16 percent, but now the numbers are trailing up 40 percent because we are fully funded, ICE officers are out doing their job… Last month, June, highest numbers of arrests in the history of the agency.”
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