ICE detentions set Trump-era high in July, as immigration crackdown widens

CBS News ^ | August 3, 2026 | Camilo Montoya-Galvez

[Twotone]

Detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement set a monthly record high for the second Trump administration in July, internal agency data obtained by CBS News shows, as ICE widened its crackdown, making arrests at airports, immigration check-in offices and communities across the U.S.

Last month, ICE took into custody more than 46,000 individuals facing deportation because of alleged immigration violations, like entering the U.S. illegally or overstaying their visas, according to preliminary Department of Homeland Security figures.

The statistics, which have not yet been publicly disclosed by the federal government, show that a summer enforcement surge by ICE continued to intensify in July, as the agency faced pressure from the White House to record 2,000 arrests across the country each day. An average of 1,500 detainees entered ICE custody each day last month, the data indicates, though some of them were first arrested by Customs and Border Protection agents.

The over 46,000 book-ins in July surpassed the roughly 43,000 detentions recorded by ICE in June, at the time the highest tally during President Trump's second term. As of this weekend, ICE was holding 68,000 detainees in its sprawling detention system, approaching a record high of over 70,000 detainees set in January, according to internal agency figures.

The numbers also show the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration has rebounded this summer, following a significant drop in arrests earlier this year after federal agents killed two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, during an enforcement blitz in Minneapolis that garnered bipartisan criticism.

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TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: detentions; ice

[Diana in Wisconsin]

More, Please! Thank You! :)

[posterchild]

How many people are currently in the buffer is less relevant than total throughput. How many get deported each month? What is the average length of stay?

[Sarah Barracuda]

Detentions is good, deporting their asses is EVEN BETTER

[jimpick]

“”””Detentions is good, deporting their asses is EVEN BETTER”””

Self-deportations are the bestest.

[Sarah Barracuda]

Not enough self deport which is the problem..the second they come here they say “YAY FREEBIES” and thats it. Gotta go round them up, the more the merrier because the second the commies EVER get back power thats it, you will have 100 MILLION new Dem voters in this country

[Libloather]

We’ll be sending back their best.

[jimpick]

“””Not enough self deport which is the problem..the second they come here they say “YAY FREEBIES” and thats it.”””

Simple solution. Make it intolerable here for them. Cut the freebies, criminalize their jobs, jail them on contact, tax remittances out of the country hard. Any number of ways to get them to self deport.

We will never be able to deport them all. We need to deport them and make them want to leave.

[qwerty1234]

Glad its picking up, but Trump admin is not deporting people nearly fast enough.

2K a day is ~750K a year, we need to do 10 times that to reverse the damage under Biden.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Any context See-BS? Could detentions be at a high because Biden’s open borders policy let in an unprecedented number of illegals who need to be found and deported?

[rx]

The deportation count goal is not the 20-30 million we’ve long been told, but—as HHS & FBI now estimate—well over 100 million!

The Biden Admin demons (think SES) were truly “flooding the zone” while understating known numbers as our gates were thrown open wide!

[dadfly]

we need deportations. one million a month would be adaquate.

[eyeamok]

First cut off all welfare type benefits for Illegal Aliens, then TAX remittances 50%.