ICE touts immigration arrests, others warn of Congress approving $10B 'blank check' for enforcement

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Department of Homeland Security touted major progress Tuesday in its efforts to deport migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission across the country, but migrant advocates are voicing their skepticism of the numbers.

The ABC7 Chicago I-Team has also learned there are new concerns, as Congress is poised to award billions of additional dollars to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with allegedly little oversight on how that money will be spent.

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DHS officials announced that more than 32,000 people have been arrested by immigration enforcement since President Donald Trump took office in January.

Pointing to the total number of at-large arrests made in fiscal year 2024, 33,242, officials touted that they are already close to surpassing that total in the president's first 50 days.

While those numbers are substantial, labor experts say they are still lower than the pace set during Trump's first term.

"In the first seven weeks or so of the current administration, you're seeing a messaging that is very strong and harsh, but you're not seeing the follow-through on the numbers that match the rhetoric," University of Illinois Professor Michael LeRoy said.

LeRoy said the factors are myriad: potential disorganization of immigration resources, a reduction in immigration judges moving people through the system and immigration holding facilities brimming with costs adding up.

"The costs of detaining people to the American taxpayer, that is increasing. There are costs one way or another with this," LeRoy said. "It's possible that this rapid resizing of federal government is making this, creating obstacles for the achievement of what this administration wants to do."

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A senior ICE official told ABC News that among the more than 32,000 arrested in the first 50 days of the Trump administration, there were more than 14,000 convicted criminals, 9,800 migrants with pending criminal charges, 1,100 suspected gang members and 44 foreign fugitives.

But, the remaining 8,718 people arrested have been labeled "immigration violators," according to a senior ICE official. ICE has previously referred to these arrests as "collateral damage" or "collateral arrests": people who are not the target of an enforcement operation, but who are arrested in the process.

Immigration advocates say those numbers may be misleading, and that thousands of these people arrested may only be facing a civil offense of being in the country without legal permission, if they hadn't been previously deported.

"Any numbers from the Trump administration need to be taken with a grain of salt," said Azadeh Erfani, the policy director for the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC).

The NIJC represents migrants who have been swept up in immigration raids in Chicago. Some are alleging Fourth Amendment violations during their arrests.

"What we've seen with the Chicago area is that (ICE officials) enter properties without a warrant. They arrest people collaterally, you know. They racially profile people, and we've seen domestic violence survivors, small business owners, and longstanding neighbors being swept up in those operations," Erfani said.

These immigration operations nationwide could soon be receiving a cash influx.

Nearly $10 billion is poised to be awarded to ICE in the continuing resolution that passed the U.S. House on Monday evening. The money is earmarked for ICE "Operations and Support."

On Tuesday, a senior ICE official speaking with reporters admitted that the agency is "maxed out," when it comes to detention facility space, with approximately 47,000 beds taken nationwide.

That official said they are hoping to gain potential bed space through partnerships with the U.S. Marshals and Bureau of Prisons, and that they are pushing Congress to act and provide more funding for these efforts.

Erfani is worried that the situation could deteriorate for her clients.

"This is a proposal like one we've never seen before," Erfani said. "Appropriations funding is supposed to come with many kinds of guardrails and oversight. Those guardrails don't exist with this proposal. They have been completely stripped away, and it's essentially a blank check for ICE."