Trump immigration officials set target of 3,000 arrests a day
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In the first 100 days of Mr Trump’s second term, US Customs and Immigration Enforcement said it deported about 65,000 people.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is telling immigration officials to ramp up arrests to 3,000 per day with a goal of more than 1 million a year, according to a person familiar with the discussions, a target that would significantly escalate the pace of detentions.
The directive was delivered at a recent meeting led by senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation.
The tone of the discussion left some senior officials concerned they could be fired or relocated if the goals weren’t met, according to the person.
The meeting and new targets were reported earlier by Axios.
“We are committed to aggressively and efficiently removing illegal aliens from the United States, and ensuring our law enforcement officers have the resources necessary to do so,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement on May 28. “The safety of the American people depends upon it.”
The Department of Homeland Security echoed that sentiment in its own statement, saying it was delivering on US President Donald Trump’s push “to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe”.
Mr Trump has made sweeping immigration enforcement a cornerstone issue of his presidency, vowing to carry out the largest deportation effort in US history.
But so far, the scale of arrests of migrants in the country illegally has remained largely in line with the prior administration.
In the first 100 days of Mr Trump’s second term, which began in January, US Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) said it deported about 65,000 people.
During the final stretch of the Biden administration, ICE arrested an average of 759 migrants a day, according to federal data from the Transactional Records Access Clearing House at Syracuse University.
The new arrest target appears to be part of a broader strategy to accelerate removals.
Earlier in 2025, the administration expanded the 287(g) programme, which deputises state and local law enforcement to carry out immigration arrests.
ICE has also published contract offers worth as much as US$45 billion (S$58.20 billion) to expand detention capacity at immigration jails.
At the same time, the administration has deployed thousands of troops to the south-west border, where crossings have plummeted in recent months to lows not seen since the 1960s. BLOOMBERG
