ICE agents are now making arrests at a record pace after easing off operations in the wake of two high-profile killings of protesters in Minnesota earlier this year.
More than 1,400 people a day were taken into custody during the first 12 days of July on average, The Washington Post reported Friday, citing internal agency statistics shared with Congress.
The record figure for President Donald Trump’s second term was reached after ICE hit a target of at least 2,000 arrests a day several times this month, a Department of Homeland Security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Post.
The arrest tally emerged amid new ICE controversy after two fatal shootings of motorists by agents in Texas and Maine this month, as well as the death of man who was struck and killed by a tractor trailer while running from immigration and other federal authorities in Florida Tuesday.
The Independent has contacted ICE and the White House for comment.
Last year, Trump announced a goal of deporting 1 million migrants annually to make good on his campaign vow to “stop the invasion of illegals into our country.”
That rate would require an average of almost 2,800 arrests a day.
ICE data shows more than 39,500 people, representing an average 1,319 a day, were arrested and tossed into detention facilities in June, breaking the record for Trump’s second term set in December, the Post said.
The current rate of 1,433 arrests a day would result in more than 44,000 arrests if the pace continues through the end of the month.
Average daily arrests dipped from 1,164 in January to 1,025 in February amid widespread outrage over the fatal shootings in Minneapolis of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents.
In March, Trump fired Homeland Security Kristi Noem after she claimed without evidence that both victims had been engaged in domestic terrorism.
That same month, daily ICE arrests dropped to an average of 954, their lowest level this year, then hovered around 1,000 before surging more than 33 percent in June.