ICE Arrests Surge in Ohio with Hundreds Swept Up as 'Collateral' Damage

When Carlos Amaya was handcuffed at his Canton, Ohio workplace last August, he never imagined he'd still be locked up more than eight months later. The 21-year-old Salvadoran, armed with a valid work permit, Ohio driver's license, and a spotless criminal record, was swept up in an ICE raid targeting others. His arrest was classified as "collateral" — a catch-all ICE uses to detain people found incidentally during enforcement actions.

An analysis by The Columbus Dispatch reveals this is no isolated incident. Between August and February, about one in five of the nearly 3,000 ICE arrests in Ohio were labeled "collateral." That means hundreds of people like Amaya — legally present and working — are caught in ICE’s expanding dragnet. The agency’s own data shows arrests skyrocketing from 880 in 2024 to over 3,600 in 2025, with early 2026 numbers already surpassing previous years.

Immigration attorneys describe "collateral arrests" as ICE’s way to cast a wide net, often arresting individuals first and only later confirming their immigration status. Erin Sweeney, who once represented Amaya, calls the term a smokescreen that lets ICE justify detaining anyone, anywhere, at any time under the guise of a broader operation.

The workplace raid that netted Amaya also swept up several others with legal status, including his clients represented by attorney Brian Hoffman. Meanwhile, a handful of people with prior deportations and no re-entry permission were also arrested and charged with various immigration-related crimes. Yet the majority of those detained, like Amaya, were not ICE’s stated "priorities" for deportation.

ICE claims those arrested without criminal records have committed the crime of illegal entry, but most immigration violations are civil offenses handled in immigration courts, not criminal courts. The shift toward mass detentions and denying bond — policies ramped up under the Trump administration — means many detainees languish in jail for months, stripped of due process.

Experts like Adriana Coppola of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network see Amaya’s case as emblematic of ICE’s broader crackdown: detaining people based on immigration status alone rather than any threat to public safety. This aggressive expansion of enforcement turns workplaces and communities into zones of fear and uncertainty for immigrants legally living and working in the U.S.

As ICE arrests surge and collateral detentions multiply, stories like Amaya’s expose the harsh reality behind the agency’s rhetoric. Innocent workers caught in the wrong place at the wrong time face prolonged detention, fueling distrust and tearing families apart — all while ICE claims it is targeting only the "worst of the worst." The data tells a different story: one of sweeping, indiscriminate raids that prioritize numbers over justice.