During the months when ICE had failed to report, actual arrest figures had been way down from December levels. Immigration arrests in April and May, for example, had fallen to 33,083 and 34,079, respectively.

The June 2026 numbers included a widely reported 5-day surge at the end of June first reported by the New York Times during which 10,000 individuals were arrested. It seems unlikely that ICE had the ability to surge arrests in every major city, but ICE failed to release any breakdown as it often had in the past of where in the country these arrests occurred. Thus, the public is left in the dark as to just what locales were being targeted.

While these temporary surges can generate headlines, ICE has not in the past demonstrated the ability to sustain them. For example, there was a surge in ICE arrests right after Trump assumed office and ICE posted daily arrest figures on social media. But as arrests dropped, these daily reports stopped. See TRAC March 2025 report. But press releases continued to trumpet “Skyrocketing Arrests and Deportations ” which weren’t supported by the data. See TRAC’s May 2025 report.

The New York Times when reporting on the surge at the end of June quoted ICE officials as being told that “2,000 arrests a day was the new standard for enforcement.” While this may have been achieved during the 5-day surge, arrests for the first 11 days of July show that daily ICE arrest rates fell well below this 2,000 level, averaging 1,474 a day.

TRAC’s Immigration Quick Facts provides the latest data on immigrant detention, immigration court cases, and immigration prosecutions in federal court. Each page includes several key data points alongside a graphic or table, a short description for context, and a link to more data. Click here to see more about TRAC's entire suite of immigration tools.