ICE Data Exposes High Rate of Non-Criminal Arrests in New York City Immigration Operations
In a pre-dawn operation on Thursday, December 4, 2025, Department of Homeland Security agents conducted a raid in Jackson Heights, resulting in the arrest of two individuals. This incident represents just a small fraction of a broader pattern revealed by newly obtained Immigration and Customs Enforcement data, which shows that since August 2025, ICE agents have arrested 811 immigrants in New York City who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Reality Behind 'Collateral' Arrests
These detentions, which ICE officially classifies as "collateral" arrests, accounted for 24% of all ICE arrests in New York City from August 2025 through March 10. Most strikingly, 85% of these collateral arrests involved individuals with no criminal history whatsoever, directly contradicting the agency's stated focus on apprehending dangerous criminals.
THE CITY's investigation uncovered multiple examples of these questionable arrests, including the case of a 28-year-old construction worker from Corona, Queens, who was detained while walking to work one morning. Agents admitted they had been searching for his neighbor but took him instead, highlighting the arbitrary nature of many operations.
Discrepancy Between Rhetoric and Reality
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has consistently maintained that its enforcement efforts target "the worst of the worst," regularly publicizing images of immigrants convicted of serious crimes. However, the data tells a different story: even among the 2,491 people specifically targeted for arrest in New York City since August, 73% had no criminal convictions or pending charges.
The ICE arrest data analyzed by THE CITY was obtained by the Deportation Data Project through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and covers immigration arrests through March 10. For the first time, this dataset includes ICE's own classification of whether arrests were "targeted" operations or "collateral" detentions.
Questionable Enforcement Practices
While the ICE data doesn't specify exact arrest locations or methods, THE CITY's investigation revealed that many "targeted" arrests occurred at ICE check-ins and immigration court hearings. Since last year, agents have been carrying lists of names and monitoring court proceedings to detain immigrants, raising concerns about due process violations.
When confronted with these findings, an unnamed ICE spokesperson disputed the agency's own records, claiming: "This story only reveals how the media manipulates data to peddle a false narrative that DHS is not targeting the worst of the worst." The spokesperson pointed to examples on DHS's website of individuals wanted for crimes in other countries.
National vs. Local Statistics
The spokesperson further asserted that "70% of illegal aliens ICE arrested across the country have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges." However, ICE's own data released by the Deportation Data Project shows those individuals accounted for just 59% of nationwide arrests since August, according to THE CITY's analysis.
In New York City, the percentage was dramatically lower: only 24% of the 3,191 people ICE arrested had criminal convictions or pending charges, while 76% had no criminal history. The spokesperson countered that "this statistic doesn't account for those wanted for violent crimes in their home country or another country, INTERPOL notices, human rights abusers, gang members, terrorists, etc."
Advocates and Officials Respond
Immigrant advocates strongly criticized the latest figures, viewing them as evidence of an enforcement agency operating without proper oversight. "The Trump administration is not interested in actually delivering on what they say, which is making our communities more safer and secure," said Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition. "They are aimlessly, racially profiling people, but they're looking for anyone that they can detain so they can meet their idiotic quotas."
Border Czar Tom Homan has long argued that sanctuary cities like New York would experience more collateral arrests because ICE lacks access to local jails or coordination with local police for immigration enforcement purposes. "When you release a public safety threat out of a sanctuary jail and they won't give us access to him, that means we got to go to the neighborhood and find him, and we will find him, but when we find him, he may be with others," Homan explained shortly after Donald Trump took office in 2025. "Others that don't have a criminal conviction and are in the country illegally, they will be arrested too."
Regional Variations in Enforcement
ICE's data reveals a more complex picture than Homan's explanation suggests. The agency's records indicate higher rates of collateral arrests outside jails and prisons in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island, where sanctuary laws offer less protection to immigrants or don't exist at all, and where local police frequently cooperate with ICE.
Approximately 36% of immigration arrests outside correctional facilities in Long Island and the Hudson Valley up to Ulster County since August were classified as collateral, compared to roughly 25% of such arrests in New York City. However, precise jurisdictional rates remain unclear because ICE didn't specify counties for 1,719 downstate arrests in its data.
Legislative Responses and Enforcement Patterns
Immigrant advocates are urging state lawmakers to pass the New York for All Act, which would extend sanctuary protections similar to New York City's to the entire state and limit cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE agents. "You would think that the bare minimum that our state could do is pass the New York for All act that would prohibit the collusion of local law enforcement, which is also racially profiling people for the purpose of handing them over to ICE around the state," said Yasmine Farhang, Director of the Immigrant Defense Project.
The latest data indicates that ICE's arrest surge last summer—when masked agents detained people at immigration courts and monitored check-in offices—represented the peak of enforcement efforts in the five boroughs thus far. Arrests temporarily slowed following a federal court order last August that limited how many people ICE could detain simultaneously in 26 Federal Plaza holding cells.
Recent Developments and Political Fallout
Enforcement activity increased again between October and December, when THE CITY reported an apparent rise in street arrests, before declining in the weeks after DHS agents deployed to Minneapolis in December for "Operation Metro Surge." That operation turned deadly in January when agents killed two protesters—Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Collateral arrests have dropped dramatically since Pretti's killing in late January, with just a few occurring weekly compared to dozens each week during the fall. The political repercussions of Operation Metro Surge led to the ousting of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Customs and Border Patrol Commander at Large Greg Bovino.
According to Wall Street Journal reports, Homan was given a more prominent role as Trump confided to members of his inner circle that mass deportation efforts may have gone too far, signaling potential shifts in immigration enforcement strategy moving forward.
