Trump administration's immigration push fuels ICE's biggest arrest month in agency history
The Trump administration's immigration crackdown reached a historic milestone in July as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made roughly 51,000 immigration arrests, setting the highest monthly arrest total in the agency's history.
ICE averaged approximately 1,645 immigration arrests per day during the month, according to multiple federal sources who spoke with Fox News.
The historic total came just one month after ICE set what was then a new monthly record with roughly 43,000 arrests in June, giving the agency back-to-back record-breaking months.
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Federal sources told Fox News the surge followed a slowdown in ICE arrests in the weeks and months after unrest in Minneapolis.
They attributed the record-setting pace to the end of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, thousands of newly hired ICE personnel hitting the streets and billions of dollars in new funding from two reconciliation bills that replenished the agency's coffers.
The additional money is helping fuel expanded hiring and enforcement operations nationwide, according to the sources.
The Department of Homeland Security praised ICE officers in a post on X Monday, highlighting the agency's efforts to arrest and remove criminal illegal immigrants.
"Every day, the brave men and women of ICE are arresting and DEPORTING dangerous criminal illegal aliens, including gang members, from our country," DHS wrote.
"Under @POTUS Trump and @SecMullinDHS, the safety of the American people will always come first," the department added.
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The July figures represent the highest single-month arrest total ever recorded by ICE and mark the second straight month the agency has broken its own record.
The record-setting month comes as ICE has ramped up high-profile enforcement operations across the country under the Trump administration.
Last month, ICE announced its Harlingen, Texas, field office arrested 238 illegal immigrants in a single day, setting a record for targeted arrests in the Rio Grande Valley.
According to the agency, those taken into custody included a suspected Paisas gang member and a Mexican national previously convicted of attempted kidnapping, sexual battery and illegal reentry.
At the time, ICE Harlingen Field Office Director Juan Agudelo said the agency remained focused on "enhancing public safety and restoring integrity to our nation's immigration system."
"We will stop at nothing to keep our American communities safe by removing one criminal illegal alien at a time," Agudelo said.
Fox News Digital's Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report.