Trump administration orders 3,000 people be arrested a day in latest immigration crackdown

30 May 2025, 11:36

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Headquarters
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Headquarters. Picture: Getty

By Henry Moore

The Trump administration has reportedly ordered 3,000 people be arrested a day as it continues to crack down on illegal immigration.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

The target, first reported by Axios, was presented to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) during an intense meeting with White House staff, including deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary.

It marks the latest attempt by the White House to fulfil Donald Trump’s anti-immigration mission, with the President promising to deport all illegal immigrants when he entered office in January.

“ This administration came into office with the illusion that they had been given a broad mandate to effectuate an aggressive immigration enforcement agenda, and they are doubling down now on that agenda,” Nayna Gupta, the policy director for the American Immigration Council told the Guardian.

Read more: Former CIA boss reveals which European country Putin plans to invade next

Demonstrators gather to protest against the deportation of immigrants to El Salvador
Demonstrators gather to protest against the deportation of immigrants to El Salvador. Picture: Getty

“ Public polling is showing decreasing support for Trump’s immigration agenda, as Americans wake up to the reality that mass deportation means arrests of our neighbours and friends, masked agents in our communities and people afraid to go to work and show up to school, in ways that undermine our local economies.”

This comes following reports that the Trump administration is “actively looking” at ending habeas corpus, a constitutional right that gives detained people the right to challenge their detention in court.

The controversial move, announced by top White House aide Stephen Miller, would mark an extreme escalation in Trump’s deportation strategy.

The Trump administration has already tried to deport people without due process, by invoking the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), which allows for such deportations during wartime.

But judges have blocked many of these attempts to ramp up deportations, deeming them illegal or unconstitutional.

“The constitution is clear, and that of course is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus could be suspended in time of invasion,” Miller told reporters at the White House.

“So that’s an option we’re actively looking at. A lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.”

Habeas corpus is a constitutional writ which “shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it,” the US constitution says.