Latest news with #KathleenBush-Joseph
USA Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- USA Today
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: 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: 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@ USA TODAY contributed to this report.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
"Big, beautiful bill" gives ICE unprecedented funds to ramp up deportations
The "big, beautiful bill" signed into law by President Trump last week will allow him to dramatically expand his immigration crackdown, giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement an unprecedented pool of funding to bolster its efforts to arrest and deport immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. The money allocated by the law amounts to the largest infusion of funds Congress has given the federal government for immigration enforcement, at a time when the Trump administration has vowed to oversee a deportation campaign of unprecedented proportions. Overall, the Republican-led Congress set aside roughly $170 billion for immigration enforcement and border security efforts through the legislation, including $75 billion in extra funding for ICE, making it by far the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the federal government. "The bill will supercharge immigration enforcement," said Kathleen Bush-Joseph, an attorney at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. Here's a look at what the new funds will be used for: $45 billion for ICE's detention system The law gives ICE $45 billion to expand its already sprawling detention system over the next four years, letting officials use the money to hold both single adults and families with children facing deportation. Based on cost estimates, the money could allow ICE to hold more than 100,000 detainees at any given time, roughly doubling the current capacity. On Wednesday morning, ICE was holding just over 58,000 individuals in its detention network, which was previously funded for 41,500 beds, according to internal agency data obtained by CBS News. ICE's detention network mainly consists of facilities operated by for-profit prison companies and county jails. The Trump administration has also been exploring using military facilities in the U.S. to hold detainees before they are deported. The naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been housing some ICE detainees since February. $30 billion for ICE's arrest and deportation efforts ICE is also receiving nearly $30 million in additional money to fund every single stage of the deportation process. Congress said ICE can use the money to hire additional deportation officers and other staff; retain current personnel through bonuses; increase transportation assets supporting deportation efforts; and expand and facilitate agreements that allow state and local officials to enforce federal immigration laws. The funds can also be used to modernize ICE's fleet of deportation planes and hire more agency prosecutors whose job it is to persuade immigration judges that unauthorized immigrants should be deported. The Department of Homeland Security has said the money could pave the way for ICE to hire 10,000 deportation officers. The agency currently has fewer than 6,000 officers in its deportation branch, though the Trump administration has tasked other federal law enforcement agencies, like the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, to support immigration arrests throughout the country. Tens of billions of dollars for other immigration and border efforts The "big, beautiful bill" allocates tens of billions of dollars for other types of immigration-related enforcement, including along the U.S.-Mexico border. More than $46 billion is allocated for Customs and Border Protection to build walls, barriers and related projects along the U.S.-Mexico border. The agency received an additional $12 billion to fund Border Patrol agent vehicles, facilities, training, hiring and bonuses. While the money is allocated for CBP, the Trump administration has been using hundreds of Border Patrol agents in the interior of the country to help ICE arrest unauthorized immigrants in places like Los Angeles. That deployment has come amid historically low levels of illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border. The law also gives the Department of Homeland Security a catch-all pool of $10 billion to support its "mission to safeguard the borders of the United States." Another $13.5 billion was set aside to reimburse states for their immigration enforcement and border security actions, including for efforts under the Biden administration. That money for states could allow Texas to be paid back for Operation Lone Star, under which the state deployed National Guardsmen to fortify the southern border and bussed thousands of migrants to Democratic-led cities. It could also fund actions taken by states like Florida to aid the Trump administration's deportation campaign by deputizing state officials as immigration agents and offering facilities, like the so-called "Alligator Alcatraz," to hold detainees awaiting deportation. ICE heads hails funds; but critics have concerns In a statement, Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, hailed passage of the "big, beautiful bill." "The unprecedented funding for ICE will enable my hard-working officers and agents to continue making America safe again by identifying, arresting and removing criminal aliens from our communities," Lyons said. But critics of the administration have denounced Republican lawmakers for giving billions of dollars to an agency under fire in many parts of the country over concerns that its enforcement operations have been too aggressive and indiscriminate. Andrea Flores, a former Biden administration immigration official, warned that money given to ICE would lead to dire humanitarian, legal and economic consequences, including "inhumane" conditions at detention facilities. "The administration now has the resources it needs to carry out more deportations than we have ever seen in modern history," said Flores, who now serves as a vice president at a group that supports liberal immigration policies. Sneak peek: Who Killed Aileen Seiden in Room 15? Social media content creator shows his hustle Everything we know so far about the deadly Texas floods
