A summer surge in ICE arrests in NYC and NJ, mostly of people with no criminal history

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Arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the New York City area and New Jersey have surged this summer, driven largely by an increase in the number of people arrested without criminal records, according to newly published data.

ICE agents in New Jersey arrested 2,080 people in July, the highest total in at least four years, according to a Gothamist analysis of agency data obtained via records requests by the Deportation Data Project , an academic group. The vast majority — 72% — had no criminal record or pending charges, according to the data.

In the New York City area, ICE agents arrested 919 people in July, nearly double the number arrested in April, the low mark for the year. Over three-quarters of arrestees in July had no criminal history.

While the ICE arrests in the New York City area mark a steep increase, they are no high-water mark. In June 2025, ICE arrested 1,033 people in the city, more than any other month since at least October 2022. There was another ICE arrest surge in the New York City area last fall, peaking in November, when the agency arrested 992 people.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, claimed that the Deportation Data Project “cherry-picked” the data. The spokesperson added that the Trump administration continues to pursue the “worst of the worst” criminals.

The new data confirms what immigration advocates and others have suspected in recent weeks, based in part on an uptick in calls to local hotlines for ICE sightings. The surge in arrests comes as the Trump administration employs new deportation tactics and makes expanded use of other measures.

The tactics include holding mass immigration court hearings where hundreds of cases are held at once, allowing a lapse in funding for immigration lawyers assisting unaccompanied minors , and curtailing humanitarian immigration protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, including from Haiti and Syria, previously authorized to remain in the country.

Murad Awawdeh, the president of the New York Immigration Coalition, a statewide nonprofit, said in statement that the increase in ICE arrests “is in line with the administration's single-minded focus on a deportation agenda no matter the cost to the American economy or the lives of those caught up in this cruel system.”

“When our neighbors are afraid to go to work, take their children to school, seek medical care, report crimes, or interact with government agencies, it makes all of us less safe and our communities less caring,” Awawdeh said in the statement. “New York must continue to reject the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda and ensure that local resources are not used to facilitate federal immigration enforcement."

Earlier this year, New York state legislators passed new “sanctuary” protections barring police agencies from entering into formal cooperation agreements with federal immigration enforcement , though they stopped short of barring more informal cooperation between local police and ICE.

Arya is a reporter covering race and justice. Got a tip? Email: [email protected] or reach Arya on Signal at 512-650-8767.

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