A week-long immigration enforcement effort in Houston ended with the arrest of more than 400 undocumented migrants, Fox News reports. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers detained 422 undocumented migrants living in the country illegally during the round-up, as the Trump administration seeks to increase deportations.
Focus on high-risk individuals
The Trump administration says they’re having ICE officers focus on arresting individuals considered especially dangerous. One example mentioned is an undocumented migrant, wanted in Colombia for murder, who was sentenced to 21 years there.
“He entered the United States illegally in February of 2024 was given a court date for an immigration hearing and released. He did not show up for that court date, so in March of this year, he was ordered removed by an immigration judge here in the United States,” ICE Houston Director Bret Bradford told Fox.
Criminal records and deportation orders
In total, 262 of the suspects were found guilty of committing crimes, 126 have other immigration violations, and 229 were already ordered by a judge to be deported from the U.S., but hadn’t left yet, Fox News reports.
According to ICE, 29-year-old Honduran national Junior Alejandro Chan Lopez was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Streamlining the deportation process
Bradford told Fox News that federal immigration authorities are looking to streamline the deportation process by funneling people through key locations, similar to the “hub and spoke” model, so that ICE can carry out removals more quickly and efficiently.
“We can arrest the individual this morning, process him this afternoon, and have him on a removal flight this evening, same day, saving taxpayer cost and just making it more efficient and expedited process to get these folks out of the country,” he said.
Legal pushback against enforcement expansion
The Trump administration used the military, government agencies, local police and wartime laws to carry out its immigration enforcement policies.
Currently, the immigration advocacy group “Make the Road New York” is suing the Trump administration over fast-track deportations.
“The administration’s decision to expand expedited removal to a vast group of noncitizens living anywhere in the United States disregards nearly three decades of experience showing that the expedited removal process, even when used at the border for new arrivals, is rife with errors and results in widespread violations of individuals’ legal rights,” the legal complaint states.
The case is still making its way through the court.
ICE funding on the rise
The House Judiciary Committee advanced a budget reconciliation bill allocating nearly $80 billion to immigration enforcement, including major funding for ICE and border barriers. The bill also imposed new fees on humanitarian protections.
“If the current budget bill is enacted, ICE will see the largest funding increase in the agency’s history,” the nonprofit Immigration Impact said in a May 5 statement.
