The number of migrants detained by American authorities under President Donald Trump’s administration reached its highest level in July, with more than 50,000 detentions, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed.
The increase comes amid pressure from the Republican administration to boost migrant detentions in pursuit of a goal of 2,000 daily arrests, alongside an expansion of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, including detentions at airports.
In June, the government had reported roughly 43,000 detentions, a figure that also marked a record under this administration, according to a senior DHS official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
These figures, provided to the EFE news agency by the official and not yet officially published, reveal an escalation in ICE operations, despite criticism from opposition lawmakers and human rights organizations over the government’s tactics, particularly after two people were fatally shot by immigration agents in July.
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Speaking to reporters following the deaths of Lorenzo Salgado in Texas and Joan Sebastián Guerrero in Maine, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said his agency would intensify pressure on the streets.
“I don’t choose which laws to enforce; I uphold and enforce the laws of our country. That means I will enforce them both within our own agency and among criminals on the streets. That’s my guarantee,” the secretary added.
However, most people detained by immigration authorities in the U.S. under the Republican administration have no criminal record, according to studies, contradicting the administration’s narrative that authorities are targeting “criminals” and “the worst of the worst.”
According to a study published last week by the University of Colorado Boulder, only 34% of people detained by ICE since January 2025, when Trump took office, had been convicted of any crime. Since Trump became president, there have also been at least 30 incidents in which ICE agents fired on civilians, resulting in eight deaths, according to data from the outlet The Trace.
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At detention centers, roughly 55 people have died in ICE custody, 22 of them during 2026 alone.
Against this backdrop, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called in June for an independent investigation into the deaths at the hands of ICE, criticizing what he described as a lack of transparency from the U.S. regarding these incidents.
