Federal immigration authorities detained more than 10,000 people over a five-day span this week as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement dramatically ramped up enforcement, with internal daily arrest targets doubling to roughly 2,000 and peaking at more than 2,400 on Saturday, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.
The enforcement surge has pushed the number of migrants in ICE custody above 63,000, while field offices have reportedly been instructed to devote about 80% of their officers to arrest operations seven days a week.
A source familiar with ICE operations said the agency is expanding enforcement using funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill as the law approaches its one-year anniversary.
Unlike the highly publicized workplace raids earlier in President Donald Trump's term, the latest crackdown has unfolded largely out of public view, with immigration attorneys reporting arrests during routine check-ins, traffic stops, and other activities.
Immigration advocates say the expanded enforcement is increasingly sweeping up migrants without criminal records despite the administration's repeated assertions that deportation efforts are focused on dangerous offenders.
The American Immigration Council and other groups tracking ICE arrests have reported that many recent detainees have no criminal history.
In South Florida, immigration attorney Cindy Blandon said one of her clients, a Nicaraguan father of two whose immigration court hearing is scheduled for 2027, was arrested by ICE during a routine check-in Monday.
The quieter enforcement strategy follows Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin's pledge to move away from the large-scale raids that sparked criticism last year after a Minnesota operation in which two U.S. citizens were killed.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the intensified operations, with a spokeswoman stating: "If you come to our country illegally, we will find you, we will arrest you and we will deport you."
The crackdown has also prompted criticism from both parties in some instances.
Demonstrators have staged protests nationwide over detention conditions and ICE practices, while some Republicans have objected to arrests involving individuals with humanitarian protections.
"Our immigration enforcement should target violent criminals," Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Texas, wrote on Facebook following the detention of a Catholic nun in Texas.
"A Catholic nun on her way to church is not a threat to our community."
De La Cruz later confirmed that Sister Letty "will be coming home" and that the situation was being resolved.
The increase comes just days after the Supreme Court rejected Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship, reaffirming that "children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause."