New data on arrests of illegal immigrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reveals that the Trump Administration is delivering on deportation, with nearly 50,000 arrests of illegal aliens made in the month of July alone.
This marks the most arrests in a single month for President Donald Trump’s second term. About half of those arrested are either convicted felons or have pending criminal charges, while the remaining individuals were arrested for violating U.S. immigration laws. The vast majority of those arrested are male, representing 86 percent of arrests in July.
The month of July marked the highest total number of arrests of President Trump’s second term, with 49,571 total arrests, according to data from ICE provided to the University of California, Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project.
This represents a 15 percent increase in arrests compared to June of this year and a 70 percent increase compared to February.
The number of arrests of illegal aliens has ramped up rapidly since February of this year. In January, 12,330 arrests were made. In February, that number rose to 17,370, and in March, it reached 18,877. The Administration crossed the 20,000 threshold for total arrests within a single month in May, arresting 22,636 illegals. It crossed the 30,000 threshold in June with 30,436 arrests.
States like Arizona, California, Georgia, Florida, and Texas are already benefiting significantly from the Trump Administration’s efforts to arrest and deport criminals. In July, over 4,000 of the nearly 50,000 arrests came from California, and over 2,000 came from Arizona. Georgia saw over 2,000 arrests as well. The state of Texas saw over 12,000 illegal immigrant arrests in the month of July, and Florida saw over 7,000.
About half of those arrests in July — 24,147 individuals — were either convicted felons or had pending criminal charges, according to the data. The remaining individuals were marked as “Other Immigration Violators” for violating U.S. immigration laws.
The data is broken down by gender, and because immigration analysts have expressed concern about military-age men representing a significant share of recent illegal immigrants, it is worth noting that the vast majority of those arrested were men. In July, nearly 43,000 of the 50,000 total arrests were male, or around 86 percent. Women accounted for just over 6,600.
As for where illegal immigrants are being deported, over 9,000 of the total July arrests will be deported to Mexico once their deportation status clears, and over 2,000 will be deported to Honduras. That said, the administration has recorded deportations to a wide range of countries.
While August numbers have not yet been recorded, the Trump Administration is empowering ICE to ramp up deportations as the year comes to a close. The number of arrests of illegal immigrants is accelerating, with ICE looking to hire thousands of new deportation officers by the end of the year and the agency forming close working relationships with state and local law enforcement to facilitate deportations.
Recent survey data shows the American people back President Trump’s deportation initiative by over half, with an Economist/YouGov survey from August 7–10 showing 53 percent of Americans believe all or most illegal immigrants should be deported. Independents and college-educated voters agree, supporting the deportation of all or most illegal immigrants by over half, according to the survey.
While Democrats have made opposing deportation a talking point, President Trump has been quietly delivering on his promise to make the United States safer and enforce the rule of law. The Administration has made significant progress in deporting illegal aliens from American cities, many of whom carry criminal records or pending criminal charges. It is interesting to note that in the year where mass deportations of criminals have spiked, crime is plummeting to 126-year-low, according to a Mid-Year report from the independent Council on Criminal Justice.
Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst of Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
