ICE detentions spiked in June, targeting immigrants with no criminal records, new data show
ICE quietly ramped up arrests of immigrants with clean records in June, even as overall detentions had been falling since the January raids peaked.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement quietly reversed months of declining activity in California last month, spiking its detentions in June by targeting people with no criminal records.
The new data, released this week, mark the first public numbers from the agency since early April. After raids intensified in January and detentions fell in the following months, June brought a sharp rebound focused on non-criminal immigrants.
This shift undercuts the repeated claim that enforcement is laser-focused on public safety threats. Instead, the numbers reveal a broader net being cast once initial momentum from the January operations slowed.
California, with its large immigrant population and sanctuary policies, has long been a testing ground for these federal efforts. The June surge suggests that running out of easy targets with records quickly leads agents toward those without any.
What remains unclear is whether this pattern will accelerate further or hit political headwinds as communities absorb the consequences of detaining long-settled residents who have committed no crimes.
Original reporting: LA Times.
Original reporting: LA Times, California.
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