Federal immigration agents based in the New York City field office arrested three times as many people in early 2026 compared to the same time period in 2025, according to new data from the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n
The data contains nuances and paints a complicated picture of President Donald Trump’s effort to target undocumented immigrants. For instance, fewer of the 2026 arrests resulted in deportation. Immigrants have also been detained for shorter periods of time. The average detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lasted eight days in the first eight weeks of 2026, compared to 48 days during the first eight weeks of 2025.<\/p>\n
These numbers are based on a Gothamist analysis of ICE data published last month by The Deportation Data Project, a team of immigration experts and attorneys who acquired the data through a public records request. The newly released trove contains data on arrests and detentions through March 11, 2026, and reveals new insights on how federal enforcement is affecting New York City\u2019s immigrant communities.<\/p>\n
Here are the top takeaways:<\/p>\n
Deportations skyrocketed once Trump entered office<\/p>\n
Gothamist’s analysis of this data isolated ICE arrests and detentions by date. For ICE activity during the second Trump administration, we looked at the data on or after Jan. 20, 2025, when Trump was sworn in for his second term. The data from the Deportation Data Project contains entries through March 11, 2026.<\/p>\n
Gothamist looked at the data from Jan. 20, 2023 to March 11, 2024 to compare trends during the Biden administration, while accounting for seasonal changes.<\/p>\n
In New York City, the most striking data point is the difference in deportation rates. There was a similar number of arrests during these 14-month periods of the Biden and second Trump presidencies (9,376 vs. 9,619). But under Biden, 1,279 arrests resulted in deportations compared to 6,214 under Trump. That\u2019s a deportation rate of 14% compared to 65%.<\/p>\n
Lenni Benson, a professor at New York Law School, said that, under the current administration, ICE has more resources and the ability to expedite some of these deportations. During Biden\u2019s presidency, she said, undocumented immigrants had more time to appeal any deportation orders.<\/p>\n
It was not a major priority for the Biden administration to deport immigrants who hadn\u2019t committed a crime and who were long-time U.S. residents, Benson said. That changed under Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I understand it, Stephen Miller and others said, \u2018Nope, everybody\u2019s a priority,\u2019\u201d Benson said, referring to the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, broadly considered the architect of Trump’s immigration agenda. \u201cSo they\u2019re arresting people at ICE check-ins, and they\u2019re arresting people in sweeps.\u201d<\/p>\n
ICE arrested more people in New York, but deported fewer<\/p>\n