New data on arrests by U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement are shedding light on specifically where in the state ICE is most active.
According to data from the Deportation Project, between 2024 and until October 2025, the number of ICE arrests in Onondaga County increased from 56 to 161. Erie County saw an increase from 59 to 620 arrests; Albany County went from 20 to 190; and Monroe from 6 to 224 this year.
In Onondaga County, 42 of the 161 people arrested by ICE were from Ecuador, 27 from Guatemala and 17 from Cuba, and over 80% were men. The data shows 114 of those were deemed “other immigration violator” and 47 had pending criminal charges or criminal convictions. Thirty-six of the 114 without criminal charges have been deported to their originating countries.
The New York Immigration Coalition analyzed the data available through the Deportation Project, which collects and posts data from ICE obtained through Freedom of Information requests, and found that people from Central and South America make up 25% of the immigrant population in New York, but account for 74% of ICE arrests.
“For example, Ecuadorians are 4% of non-citizens in New York state but they are 24.9% of ICE arrests,” said Mario Bruzzone, vice president of the NYIC, during a press conference Wednesday.
The data from the Deportation Project doesn’t include arrests by U.S. Border Patrol agents, so Cayuga County is listed as only having eight ICE detainments even though 57 were detained in Cato following the raid, and Oswego County has five. There is data available on the number of arrests by Border Patrol, but it isn’t broken down by county.
There are eight counties that have 287(g) agreements that allow local law enforcement agencies to work with federal agents, according to ICE’s website. Broome, Madison, Nassau, Steuben, Otsego and Niagara all have warrant service officer agreements, meaning that local law enforcement officers can execute administrative immigration warrants on people in their jail systems.
Along with the warrant service agreement, Nassau, Steuben and Niagara counties have task force 287(g) agreements that allow local law enforcement to make immigrant arrests during routine police activities. Cattaraugus County and Camden Police Department, a city department in Oneida County, also have this type of agreement in place.
In 2024, Cattaraugus County had zero ICE arrests but from January to October of 2025, they’ve had 10.
Rensselaer County has a jail enforcement model agreement that allows correctional officers in local jails to interrogate people about their immigration status and notify federal agencies.
On Sept. 4, Cayuga County Sheriff’s deputies worked with federal agents to assist with traffic outside of a raid at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners factory in Cato. The county does not have a 287(g) agreement in place, but following the raid, Sheriff Brian Schenck said they have had a relationship with Border Patrol agents since 2009.
“During my entire career, our agency has always been committed to assisting our local, state and federal agencies in conducting criminal investigations, and this case was no exception,” Schenck said in a statement in September.
Oswego County does not have a 287(g) agreement in place either. However, court documents showed that traffic stops carried out their sheriff’s department aided the federal investigation into the Nutrition Bar Confectioners factory.