Latest news with #TransactionalRecordsAccessClearinghouse
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Immigrant detentions in New Jersey and Pennsylvania hit highs not seen since 2011
The number of individuals arrested and held in New Jersey and Pennsylvania detention centers pending deportation hearings has risen to levels not seen since the early years of the Obama presidency, according to recently released government data. The detained population in New Jersey surged 451% since the end of April, when only 65 newly-arrested individuals were detained while awaiting deportation hearings. Pennsylvania's detained population crossed the 300 mark in March for the first time since 2011. As of May 31, ICE held 358 and 353 people, respectively, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania detention facilities who were detained that month as their deportation cases wound their way through immigration court. New Jersey's figure represents the highest number of such detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 14 years while Pennsylvania's is the highest in 16. The figures reflect the number of individuals detained in a given month pending removal proceedings who remain in detention at the end of the month in which they were detained. They are an undercount of detained individuals as they do not include people in so-called "expedited removal," a process by which immigration officers can deport noncitizens from the United States without a hearing before an immigration judge. President Donald Trump expanded the use of expedited removal upon returning to office. The figures were published by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC, a data gathering and research organization which regularly acquires and analyzes such data from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, or EOIR, and ICE through Freedom of Information Act requests and litigation. The data do not indicate which centers held the individuals but the 1,000-bed Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark began housing migrants on May 1. Jenny Garcia, a communications associate at Detention Watch Network, a national coalition that supports local communities trying to shut down local centers, has no doubt the increase is at least partly tied to the facility's opening. "When a detention center opens up within a state - within a community - ICE is going to fill those beds with local people - people in the tri-State Area," Garcia said. The Delaney facility, located in an industrial stretch along the Passaic River, has been dogged by controversy since before it even opened. The administration of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka in March filed a lawsuit and issued a stop-work order against GEO Group, the private prison company which operates the center under a 15-year contract with ICE worth $1 billion, claiming the company blocked city building inspectors from conducting required inspections. Baraka, a candidate in this month's Democratic primary for the state's governorship, was later arrested at a protest outside the center shortly after it began operating. Baraka is currently suing New Jersey U.S. Attorney Alina Habba for "false arrest and malicious prosecution." The U.S. Attorney's Office last week charged four Delaney Hall detainees with attempting to escape earlier in the month amid reports of late-arriving meals and other poor conditions at the facility. Garcia, whose group has held daily vigils outside of Delaney Hall since the center began holding migrants, said detainees have suffered from a lack of medical care and food, alternately freezing and boiling temperatures, and access to family and legal counsel. "We've seen clergy get denied. We've seen families get denied," Garcia said. "And, very concerningly, we've seen many, many lawyers get denied visits with their clients." A spokesperson for ICE's Newark field office did not respond to an email seeking comment on conditions at the facility and whether the agency has been making an effort to detain more individuals now that it's open. While Pennsylvania did not experience the same month-over-month surge in detentions that New Jersey did, the 353 individuals held in detention pending removal proceedings is the highest number since September 2009. The state's detained population has increased every month since last December and crossed the 300 mark in March for the first time since 2011. Peter Pedemonti, the co-director of the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, decried the increased detentions. "I hope everybody can look at those numbers and agree that those are 353 people who have been abducted out of our communities," Pedemonti said. "These are our are members of our community." The number of detained people in Pennsylvania has long been higher than that of New Jersey. Before May, the last time New Jersey's total exceeded that of Pennsylvania was March 2020. Part of that is the presence of the Moshannon Valley Processing Center. The former federal prison, located 30 miles northwest of State College, was repurposed as an ICE detention facility in 2021. The facility is run by Geo Group, the same private prison company that operates Delaney Hall, and has faced accusations of serious mistreatment of detainees. Activists have identified Moshannon as the ICE facility where detained Philadelphia residents are most often sent. Pedemonti said he expects Pennsylvania's numbers could rise even further based on anecdotal reports of increased arrests in recent weeks. "(ICE) is under tremendous pressure to produce numbers," Pedemonti said. "We've seen an uptick in the last three weeks (in arrests) in Philadelphia and before that was Norristown, and I'm sure we'll see that in the June (detention) numbers." A spokesperson for ICE's Philadelphia field office did not respond to an email seeking comment on whether the agency has recently been making an effort to detain more individuals. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
The Independent
21-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
ICE is arresting more non-criminals than ever as Trump pushes for more enforcement
Donald Trump's deportation blitz began as soon as his second presidency did, with billions diverted into mass raids and Trump declaring: 'We're getting the bad, hard criminals out' — but that rhetoric doesn't quite match the data. The number of people without a criminal record being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and held in detention has jumped 800 percent since January, as officials face pressure to boost numbers, according to reports. This enforcement drive has resulted in 51,302 people being imprisoned in ICE centers as of the start of June; marking the first time that detention centers held over 50,000 immigrants at once. Less than one in three (30 percent) of these detainees are convicted criminals, with the remainder pending criminal charges or arrested for non-criminal immigration offenses, such as overstaying a visa or unauthorized entry to the the country. The latest data is from June 1, published by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Since January, when the Trump administration entered office, ICE has not published clear and official figures on arrests or deportations. People held in immigration detention are either arrested by Customs and Border Protection, either at the US border or within 100 miles, or by ICE. But among detained immigrants who have been arrested by ICE and not CBP, the number of non-criminal arrests has shot up. Before the Trump administration entered office in mid-January, the proportion of non-criminal detainees arrested by ICE (meaning people without a criminal conviction or pending charges) was just 6 percent of all ICE arrests, 850 people. This was largely in line with figures over Joe Biden's presidency, where non-criminal ICE arrests rarely made up more than 10 percent of detainees. Yet since President Trump's inauguration on January 20, this figure has soared, with 7,781 detainees arrested by ICE without a criminal history or pending charges. This makes up one in four (23 percent) of all detained immigrants arrested by ICE; an increase of over 800 percent, and the highest levels recorded since at least 2019, as far as records go back. At the same time, just four in ten detainees who had been arrested by ICE were convicted criminals, latest data shows; the lowest level recorded, and a 20 percent drop proportionally from January. This substantial shift in non-criminal immigration arrests comes as enforcement officials increasingly conduct raids at workplaces, a reversal of the Biden-era ban. Meanwhile, ICE is facing ongoing pressure from the government to boost numbers; with Homeland Security secretary Kirsti Noem reportedly ordering targets of 3,000 arrests a day. And just this week, Trump demanded ICE "expand efforts to detain and deport illegal Aliens' in Democratic-run cities, and reversed an order to protect farmworkers from raids just days earlier. 'The American People want our Cities, Schools, and Communities to be SAFE and FREE from Illegal Alien Crime, Conflict, and Chaos,' he wrote in a lengthy tirade on Truth Social. The lack of transparency over ICE arrests and other statistics under the Trump administration has also made it harder to identify trends in immigration enforcement. But internal ICE documents seen by CNN suggest that immigration enforcement has had little focus on violent criminals. Just one in ten ICE detainees from October to May have been convicted of serious crimes — including murder, rape, assault or robbery, according to CNN. Even among all detainees with a criminal conviction, who make up around a third of the 185,000 ICE detainees over this period, the vast majority, around 75 percent, are for non-serious crimes. These non-serious crimes include traffic and other offenses, but are included under an umbrella label when ICE refers to targeting immigrants with a criminal conviction. The Trump administration's anti-immigrant rhetoric has centered around criminal convictions and gang affiliations, not least with the unprecedented deportation of around 245 Venezuelans to El Salvador over alleged links to the Tren de Aragua gang. The increasing number of non-criminals being detained by ICE, in addition to the low prioritization for serious crimes (just 9 percent of all detainees), is a concern amid the wider push to ramp up immigration enforcement at all costs. In fact, though deportation has been front-and-center of the Trump agenda, the numbers are not skyrocketing on the surface; and border patrol deportations are going down, since fewer migrants are attempting to cross into the US. While the latter should be a positive sign for the Trump administration, it may make officials desperate to find higher deportation numbers to report – regardless of immigrants' criminal histories. 'This push on numbers — exclusive of whether or not the job is being done right — is very concerning,' said Sarah Saldaña, former ICE director under Obama, told the New York Times. 'You're going to have people who are being pushed to the limit, who in a rush may not get things right, including information on a person's status.'
The Herald Scotland
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Did Barack Obama deport more people than Donald Trump?
The Trump administration's expansion of federal power prompted nationwide protests, which organizers said could have been bolstered by the federal crackdown on the Los Angeles protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Trump has long promised the greatest deportation program in history. How does he compare? Are people protesting more than usual? 'Jaw-dropping' number planned on Trump's birthday Did Obama deport more people than Trump? By annual comparisons, yes. Obama had earned the critical reputation as "deporter in chief," and Trump's first term lagged behind Obama in numbers. Throughout eight years in office, the Obama administration logged more than 3.1 million ICE deportations, according to Syracuse's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The peak was fiscal year 2012, when more than 407,000 people were removed. By comparison, the first Trump administration maxed out at deporting 269,000 people in 2019, according to the same TRAC data set. Across four years, the Trump administration recorded fewer than 932,000 deportations. How many people has Trump deported in this term? The Trump administration had deported about 200,000 people over four months, border czar Tom Homan said in late May. That is still less than the number of deportations in a similar period under President Joe Biden, which the White House credits to fewer people coming to the border. Trump called on ICE officers in a June 15 Truth Social post to "do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History." Contributing: Lauren Villagran, Bart Jansen, Aysha Bagchi, Joey Garrison, Zac Anderson, USA TODAY Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@ Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @
USA Today
19-06-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Did Obama deport more people than Trump? What to know as Trump calls for more ICE arrests
Did Obama deport more people than Trump? What to know as Trump calls for more ICE arrests Show Caption Hide Caption Trump orders ICE more illegal immigration deportations in LA, Chicago President Trump ordered ICE to deliver "the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History" by expanding operations in cities led by Democrats. Former President Barack Obama warned of a "weak commitment" to democracy from President Donald Trump's administration, according to multiple media reports. While Obama didn't mention Trump by name at the June 17 conversation in Connecticut, he said, "those who are in charge of the federal government right now, there is a weak commitment to ... our understanding of how a liberal democracy is supposed to work.' The Trump administration's expansion of federal power prompted nationwide protests, which organizers said could have been bolstered by the federal crackdown on the Los Angeles protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Trump has long promised the greatest deportation program in history. How does he compare? Are people protesting more than usual? 'Jaw-dropping' number planned on Trump's birthday Did Obama deport more people than Trump? By annual comparisons, yes. Obama had earned the critical reputation as "deporter in chief," and Trump's first term lagged behind Obama in numbers. Throughout eight years in office, the Obama administration logged more than 3.1 million ICE deportations, according to Syracuse's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The peak was fiscal year 2012, when more than 407,000 people were removed. By comparison, the first Trump administration maxed out at deporting 269,000 people in 2019, according to the same TRAC data set. Across four years, the Trump administration recorded fewer than 932,000 deportations. How many people has Trump deported in this term? The Trump administration had deported about 200,000 people over four months, border czar Tom Homan said in late May. That is still less than the number of deportations in a similar period under President Joe Biden, which the White House credits to fewer people coming to the border. Trump called on ICE officers in a June 15 Truth Social post to "do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History." Contributing: Lauren Villagran, Bart Jansen, Aysha Bagchi, Joey Garrison, Zac Anderson, USA TODAY Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@ Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Who has been arrested by ICE under Trump?
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump was crystal clear: "On day one, I will launch the largest deportation programme of criminals in the history of America." That promise, opinion polls suggested, proved broadly popular with the American people, including with legal immigrants, who felt that too many people were coming into the country the "wrong way". Since taking office, the president has widened the scope of his mission, targeting not just criminals, but migrant workers, some student activists and even tourists with visa issues. For almost five months, these moves met little resistance. But now parts of Los Angeles have erupted in protests after immigrations officers intensified their raids at workplaces. But who are the migrants caught up in these raids? And who else has the administration targeted? Here's a look at some of the people who have already been targeted. Since assuming office, the president has touted plummeting numbers of border crossings and record arrests under his administration. About 51,000 undocumented migrants were in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention as of early June - the highest on record since September 2019. While accurate and up-to-date figures for the total number of immigration detentions since 20 January are not publicly available, White House officials have said they hope ICE can scale up to 3,000 arrests a day, from 660 or so during the first 100 days of Trump's presidency. Initially, US officials insisted that the operations were "targeted" at criminals and potential public safety threats. But a significant number of undocumented migrants detained by the Trump administration have otherwise clean records, according to one data tracker. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse - a project from Syracuse University that compiles immigration figures - estimates that of the 51,302 people in ICE detention facilities as of 1 June, about 44% had no criminal record aside from entering the US without permission. The unrest in Los Angeles was sparked by a series of immigration arrests that netted a total of 118 people, which the Department of Homeland Security said included five gang members. ICE has characterised those arrested in LA as "the worst of the worst". The agency identified a handful of people with criminal histories, including drug trafficking, assault, cruelty to children, domestic violence, robbery and alien smuggling. How many of the total have criminal histories, however, is unclear. The parents of a 23-year-old undocumented migrant, a member of Mexico's indigenous Zapotec community, told the Washington Post their son, who they said has no criminal history, was detained outside a clothing store. The BBC cannot independently confirm the details of this case. Border tsar Tom Homan has justified these arrests as "collateral" damage, arguing that agents cannot legally justify encountering undocumented immigrants and not detaining them. Marco Rubio says US revoked at least 300 foreign students' visas Trump revoking protections for Cubans, Haitians and other migrants US deports more alleged gang members to El Salvador There have been several instances of tourists being arrested and held in detention centres, including British, European and Canadian citizens. In April, for example, a 28-year-old Welsh tourist was held for 19 days in an ICE processing centre in Washington state after being denied entry to Canada over what she later termed a "visa mix-up". In another more recent incident in June, 25-year-old Italian citizen Khaby Lame - the world's most popular TikTok star with 162m followers - was detained at Las Vegas' airport for "immigration violations". ICE alleged that Mr Lame overstayed the terms of his visa after having entered the country on 30 April. Authorities later said he was granted "voluntary departure" and left the country. Additionally, in March, Canadian actress Jasmine Mooney was held for nearly two weeks after being detained at the San Ysidro border crossing, where she was attempting to renew her visa to enter the US. She later described the conditions of her detention as inhumane, and described being kept in a concrete cell with no blanket and limited access to a bathroom. She was later released without being charged with any crime. Her case caught the attention of British Columbia Premier David Eby, who said the incident further inflamed Canadian anxieties about travelling to the US. "The nature of our relationship is so fraught right now that this case makes us all wonder, what about our relatives who are working in the States?" he said in a statement to CBC. Others, like 34-year-old German national Fabian Schmidt, were held at airports. Schmidt, who had lived in the US since 2007, was detained on his way into the US from Luxembourg. In an interview with WGBH, a New Hampshire news outlet, Mr Schmidt said he was asked about a drug misdemeanour charge that was later dismissed and a later DUI that resulted in fines and probation. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has largely avoided commenting on specific cases, but has repeatedly insisted it is operating lawfully. Some of the most striking images of the Trump administration's immigration overhaul have come from thousands of miles away, in the Central American nation of El Salvador. There, over 250 people who the government claims are members of the gang Tren de Aragua have been transferred to a mega-prison. Family members of some of those men, however, have disputed any gang ties, with some arguing that they were swept up as a result of innocent tattoos. Dubbed "alien enemies", they were removed under a 1798 act that gives authorities sweeping powers to order the detention and deportation of natives or citizens of an "enemy" nation. "It is really disheartening," Adalys Ferro, the executive director of the Venezuelan-American Caucus, an advocacy group, told the BBC. "All of these decisions are inhumane, cruel and also illegal." The most high-profile case is that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old from El Salvador and Maryland resident who was deported from the US in March. Various judges - including those on the US Supreme Court - have ruled that Mr Abrego Garcia was deported in error and that the government should "facilitate" his return to the US and his family. On 6 June, he was returned to the US to face federal criminal charges after being charged in an indictment alleging he illegally transported undocumented migrants while still in the US. Foreign nationals who participate in political protests have also found themselves in the administration's crosshairs, despite some having permanent residency or valid student visas in the US. Anthony Enriquez, who leads advocacy efforts at Robert F Kennedy Human Rights, a non-profit human rights organisation, told the BBC that there have been "more and more" green card holders detained since Trump returned to office. "Immigration authorities feel empowered to conduct arrests that they're legally not allowed to do," he said. Although the reasons for the decisions vary, over 1,600 international students have had their visas revoked, according to Nafsa, an organisation that focuses on international education. Many of the arrests follow the White House's crackdown on what it has classified as antisemitism on US campuses, including the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent figure during Gaza war protests at Columbia University last year. The 30-year-old green card holder has been fighting to stop his deportation in court. Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk also spent six weeks in custody before being released. The university later said that it had been told that Ms Ozturk - a doctorate candidate who participated in pro-Palestinian protests - had had her student visa revoked. She continues to fight her deportation in court. While these cases have been subject to fierce criticism, ICE has justified some of the arrests by saying that the students participated in activities "aligned" to Hamas. "A visa is a privilege not a right," US Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on X.
