ICE has detained more than 10,000 people over the past five days, The New York Times reports. According to the publication, the sharp rise in arrests is linked to a new internal initiative by the agency aimed at accelerating the detention of immigrants subject to removal from the United States.
According to internal ICE documents, the agency’s leadership ordered that its main resources be focused on detaining such migrants. Agents carried out arrests during mandatory check-ins with immigration authorities, at traffic stops, and on the streets.
As a result, the average number of arrests has doubled. Whereas ICE previously detained about 1,000 people a day, that figure has now risen to roughly 2,000.
NYT sources said agency employees were told directly that the White House demanded a faster pace, and that 2,000 arrests a day are now considered the “new standard of enforcement.”
According to internal reports, the peak came on Saturday, when ICE agents detained more than 2,400 people. The total number of migrants in the agency’s facilities rose by nearly 4,000 and exceeded 63,000 by Tuesday.
According to the NYT, ICE leadership also instructed that as many employees as possible be moved to a seven-day workweek. Officers involved in detention operations now account for 80% of the agency’s entire officer corps.
In internal emails, agency leaders thanked employees for the results they had achieved.
“I want to personally thank each of you for your outstanding efforts over this past weekend,” Marcos Charles, the head of ICE’s deportation division, wrote this week. “Because of your dedication, professionalism and unwavering commitment to our mission, enforcement and removal operations achieved impressive operational results.”
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