ICE’s “Collateral” Arrests Sweep Up Thousands of Noncriminal Immigrants in Warrantless Raids

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has quietly escalated a controversial tactic known as “collateral” arrests, sweeping up thousands of immigrants without warrants or solid evidence. According to data obtained by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by Stateline, between August 2025 and early March 2026, about 64,000 of ICE’s 253,000 arrests—roughly one in four—were collateral arrests.

Unlike traditional arrests based on warrants tied to removal orders or criminal charges, collateral arrests happen during street sweeps and raids where agents detain individuals based on their presence near a target or their perceived immigration status. This practice raises serious civil rights questions because it often targets people without prior investigation or individualized suspicion.

The data paints a stark picture: 70% of those caught in collateral arrests had no criminal convictions beyond immigration violations, compared to 41% for warrant-based arrests. Less than 2% had violent crime convictions—only a third the rate of other arrests. Overall, collateral arrests have driven down the share of serious criminals in ICE’s arrest numbers while inflating arrests for immigration offenses alone.

These sweeps surged dramatically in late 2025, with arrests peaking at over 40,000 in December, before falling back to 30,000 in February 2026. The spike coincided with a rise in collateral arrests and a drop in arrests of violent criminals from 10% to 4%. Public backlash appears to have played a role in curbing these mass operations, especially after high-profile raids in cities like Minneapolis and Chicago sparked outrage and lawsuits.

In response, ICE introduced a new policy in January 2026 to issue warrants in real time when agents believe someone is deportable and likely to flee. However, this policy faces legal challenges as critics argue it still allows warrantless arrests without probable cause.

Civil rights groups have filed multiple lawsuits over these tactics. One class-action suit accuses ICE of “indiscriminately arresting without warrants and without probable cause” Latino residents in Washington D.C. An example is José Escobar Molina, a Salvadoran with protected status, who was grabbed and detained without questions during a workday in August 2025. Other suits challenge arrests in Idaho and North Carolina where innocent people, including U.S. citizens, were swept up.

These warrantless raids amount to racial profiling and mass detentions that tear apart communities and violate constitutional protections. As Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh of the Migration Policy Institute notes, large-scale street sweeps “have kind of been paused” due to public outcry, but the Trump administration’s relentless focus on mass deportations paved the way for these aggressive tactics.

ICE’s collateral arrests expose the administration’s disregard for civil liberties in its pursuit of deportation quotas. These operations do not target dangerous criminals—they target entire communities, snatching up people based on fear and prejudice rather than facts. The lawsuits and public pressure may slow the worst abuses, but the damage to immigrant families and democratic norms is already done.