ICE agents search the passenger of a truck while detaining him and the driver during a traffic stop in February in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. Nearly a quarter of ICE arrests in recent months have been “collective arrests,” a category that has raised legal questions, rather than “targeted” arrests based on pre-existing warrants or removal orders. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
A quarter of immigrant arrests since August have been classified by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as “security,” a type of arrest and detention that has been challenged in court as a way to circumvent civil rights.
Public outrage and complaints about the arrests may have curbed the large-scale raids that encourage them, but tens of thousands were arrested in this way between August and early March.
Immigrant arrests are typically based on pre-obtained warrants that contain either an immigration court deportation order or evidence of a crime or charge that compels the person to be deported.
But incidental arrests can also occur through street searches and raids, in which a person is singled out for questioning based on their appearance or proximity to a person wanted on a warrant. This person could be taken into custody if officials believe they are at risk of deportation and are also likely to flee if released.
For the first time ever, collateral arrests are reported in arrest data collected by ICE from August through early March Deportation Data Project and analyzed by Stateline. During that time, there were approximately 64,000 collateral arrests, a quarter of ICE’s 253,000 total arrests.
About 70% of collateral arrests involved individuals who had committed immigration-related crimes or violations alone, compared to 41% for warrant arrests. Less than 2% of people with incidental arrests were convicted of a violent crime, a third of the rate for other arrests, and only 18% were convicted of any crime, compared to 33% for other arrests.
The collateral arrests contributed to fewer overall arrests for stern crimes and more arrests for immigration-only crimes.
The number of arrests rose from about 12,000 in January 2025 to over 40,000 in December, but fell back to 30,000 in February. The share of people committing solely immigration-related crimes and violations rose to more than half in December and January, the peak months for collateral arrests, and the share of violent offenders fell from 10% to 4% of arrests during that period.
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New policy
ICE announced a up-to-date policy in January Issue warrants in real time However, if officials believe an immigrant is deportable and “likely to flee,” that policy must be challenged in court.
The total number of arrests and ancillary arrests has fallen since December, whether because of the up-to-date policy or because of cutbacks in the large-scale street cleanups that tend to cause them.
One factor is public outrage over crackdowns on non-criminals in places like Minneapolis and Chicago, said Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, associate policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.
“The type of large-scale operations in major cities that have been taking place appear to have slowed down somewhat,” Putzel-Kavanaugh said. “After the public outcry after Minneapolis, it appears that this tactic has been put on hold, at least for now.”
The Trump administration’s focus on mass deportations has paved the way for more collateral arrests on the streets with fewer investigations, she added.
“If it’s a more targeted arrest, they would take the time to essentially launch an investigation. That’s a pretty resource-intensive route that just wouldn’t produce the kind of numbers that ICE is supposed to be producing,” she said.
The up-to-date policy was filed in court documents in February in response to a lawsuit over ICE evictions in the District of Columbia last year. alleged ICE agents “have flooded the streets of the state capital and indiscriminately arrested, without warrants and without good reason, district residents whom officials believe are Latinos.”
The case led to one an injunction in December a call to stop baseless arrests without a valid reason to show that the person is living here illegally and is a flight risk.
A class action plaintiff, Jose Escobar Molina, said in the lawsuit that agents in two cars drove up to him as he approached his work truck on Aug. 21, grabbed him by his arms and legs and handcuffed him without asking any questions. Escobar, 47, said in court papers that he has lived in the county for 25 years and has had momentary protected status as a native Salvadoran all that time. He was held overnight in Virginia before being released.
Other lawsuits also target collateral arrests, such as one Idaho incident in which agents with arrest warrants for five people arrested 105 immigrants at a Latino community event in October.
In North Carolina, In February, four U.S. citizens and one visa holder filed suitThey said they were arrested without a warrant, as is typical of collateral arrests, as part of the November immigration raid on Charlotte’s Web.
I’m very afraid that this will happen to me again. I was essentially kidnapped simply because of the color of my skin. This really bothers me.
– Yoshi Cuenca Villamar, a U.S. citizen arrested while doing landscaping
“I’m very afraid that something like this will happen to me again. I was kidnapped essentially just because of the color of my skin. This really weighs on me,” said Yoshi Cuenca Villamar, one of the citizens and a North Carolina native, in a statement announces the lawsuit. He said he was doing landscaping work on Nov. 15 when agents pushed him to the ground, handcuffed him and then held him in a car before releasing him.
One Illinois case That began with the Trump administration’s first crackdown on no-knock warrants and traffic stops that were used as a pretext for immigrant arrests. A 2022 settlement required ICE to document “reasonable suspicion” of illegal status before arresting someone. The case has been going on since a Judge found in February that ICE’s up-to-date policy of issuing arrest warrants in real time after a detention violates the consent decree.
Shares in collateral arrests
In the months since August, when collateral arrests are now considered collateral arrests, the District of Columbia and Illinois are characterized by high rates of collateral arrests. More than half of the District’s arrests were collective arrests, as were 41% of those in Illinois. There were eight states where at least 30% of arrests were collective arrests: Alabama, Maryland, West Virginia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Maine, and Minnesota.
West Virginia, where there was one “Nationwide increase” Immigration enforcement conducted in January with state and local cooperation is characterized by a high rate of overall arrests as well as a high proportion of incidental arrests.
ICE Called 1,300 Arrests During Operation Metro Surge ‘Security’
In the eight months between August and early March, West Virginia saw 1,831 arrests, representing 1 in 10 of the state’s non-citizen population in 2024, according to the most recent data available. That’s by far the highest proportion in the country, followed by 7% in Wyoming (where Truck drivers were arrested by immigration authorities in February) and 4% in Mississippi.
West Virginia’s Republican governor, Patrick Morrisey, noted in a statement state and local authorities’ cooperation with ICE 287(g) program this helps with immigration enforcement. He praised ICE, saying, “They have removed dangerous illegal immigrants from our communities and made our state safer for families and law-abiding citizens.”
However, very few of those arrested were violent criminals. According to the Stateline analysis, more than half of the people arrested during the surge were collateral arrests, and only 1% — nine immigrants — had convictions for violent crimes. More than three-quarters, about 500 people, had only one immigration-related violation or crime.
Justices did not always agree that collateral arrests and detentions related to the West Virginia surge were legal under the U.S. Constitution. Clinton-appointed U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin, ordered Two prisoners were released in January. He noted that “similar seizures and detentions occur frequently throughout the country” without evidence that they are necessary under the Constitution.
Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at thenderson@stateline.org.
This story was originally produced by State borderwhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes West Virginia Watch, and is a 501c(3) public charity supported by grants and a coalition of donors.
