ICE arrests hit record high in July as enforcement quietly ramps up
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 51,000 individuals in July, according to sources familiar with the data.
The arrests are the largest in a single month in DHS history, according to data.
It comes as ICE is ramping up arrests at airports -- with ICE arresting over 30 people at airports in July, agency data shows.
Those being detained in some cases do not have criminal records and have valid work authorization or parole documents, according to one immigration attorney that spoke with ABC News.
The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to ABC News' request for comment about the numbers.
In June, DHS announced that the total number of deportations so far this fiscal year is 356,389, according to the numbers posted by ICE.
ICE has quietly been increasing their operations around the country, according to a law enforcement source.
Some allies of President Donald Trump say the numbers should be released in full and the enforcement doesn't go far enough.
"The point is the numbers remain wildly disproportionately low to the scale of illegals let in by Biden and the promise of mass deportation," Mike Howell, the president of the Trump-aligned Oversight Project, told ABC News. "The numbers will stay low until worksite enforcement is the central pillar of the strategy. I'm very worried about the amnesty lobby continuing to use inflated deportation statistics to push for a grand compromise and sell out. That's why I'm suing DHS for real data and will keep doing it until I don't have to."
"DHS reversed the horrendous Biden-era policy that allowed aliens in our country illegally to jet around our country," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. "Under President Trump, DHS will no longer tolerate this. This administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport."
