ICE arrests more than double throughout the country, including California
Recent federal immigration enforcement activity in MacArthur Park in Los Angeles on July 7 and the raids of two agricultural facilities in Carpinteria and Camarillo on July 10 have shown that the Trump administration's immigration crackdown has not been all talk, and a recent New York Times article has numbers to back it.
The New York Times recently analyzed the different arrest numbers reported and compiled them by state, showing that numbers have more than doubled in 38 states.
President Trump has directed the Department of Homeland Security to increase immigration arrests. The Freedom of Information Act data from the University of California, Berkeley, has shown that ICE has averaged around 666 daily arrests since January.
Arrests have doubled in at least 38 states, and in a state like Idaho, which does not have as many immigrants, a 924% increase was reported.
How many ICE arrests have there been in California?
California is one of the states with the state with the largest population of illegal immigrants.
The Pew Research Center estimated about 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S as of 2022. California had the highest number of unauthorized immigrants at 1.8 million, followed closely by Texas with 1.6 million and Florida with 1.2 million.
The Times' reporting showed that the Golden State's arrests numbers have increased by 123% since 2024. There have been an estimated in 5,860 arrests in the state since the beginning of the year.
The states with the greatest increase in states are:
- Idaho- +924%
- Montana- +364%
- Virginia- +358%
- South Dakota-+358%
- New Mexico- +349%
Which states have the most ICE arrests?
Texas tops the list with the most reported ICE arrests this year at 20,150 arrests, more than the runner-up.
The five states with the most ICE arrests in 2025, so far:
- Texas- 20,150
- Florida- 9,080
- California- 5,860
- Arizona- 2,910
- New York- 2,810
More arrests may not mean more immediate departures
While the arrests have jumped, the deportation numbers are not yet on pace to reach a million a year, but it isn't impossible, according to Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute policy analyst.
"If you think about each step along the way, there can be increases in particular steps, but still obstacles that are not under the control, at least the immediate control of the agencies for a variety of reasons," she said, citing the ability to send people back to their countries as an example.
She says two tools could be major factors in ramping up deportations. The first is the 287(g) agreement, in which local law enforcement works with ICE. In those cases, particularly Republican states' cooperation could create what she called a "criminal justice to deportation pipeline."
The second tool is expedited removal, which can happen in hours but was historically used at the border. As of June, 15% of those detained were processed through expedited removal, without the opportunity to defend themselves in court, up from 5% at the end of 2024, the New York Times reported.
If, for example, someone is being detained but cannot be deported to their country of origin, the previous standard was to release them with check-in mandates.
"This administration is trying to keep everyone it can detained," she said.
Funding allocated by the recent tax bill could also contribute to expedited removals and 287(g) agreements, according to Bush-Joseph.
Ernesto Centeno Araujo covers breaking news for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at ecentenoaraujo@vcstar.com.
Paste BN contributed to this report.