ICE arrests of noncriminals spike in Pennsylvania
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests of people without criminal charges or convictions soared in Pennsylvania in June, newly obtained data shows.
Why it matters: The jump, which mirrors national trends, came shortly after the Trump administration's decision to hike ICE's arrest quotas.
State of play: Noncriminal arrests in Pennsylvania made up an average of 51% of daily ICE arrests in early June, up from 27% in early January, per ICE data via UC Berkeley.
- Last month, ICE made 332 noncriminal arrests in the state, up from 70 in January.
- The average number of daily arrests of those with charges or convictions also increased in early June, but not to the same degree.
Zoom out: Nationwide, people without criminal charges or convictions made up an average of 47% of daily ICE arrests in early June, up from about 21% in early May, before the quota increase.
Between the lines: The spike in noncriminal ICE arrests nationwide came despite the Trump administration's claimed focus on criminals living in the country illegally.
- And it happened just after the Trump administration told ICE to arrest at least 3,000 people daily, up from 1,000.
Context: UC Berkeley School of Law's Deportation Data Project obtained the agency's data — based on seven-day trailing averages — via Freedom of Information Act requests.
- Being in the U.S. illegally is a civil, not criminal, violation.
Meanwhile, more Pennsylvania law enforcement agencies are cooperating with ICE compared to last month.
- 25 state agencies have signed onto deals with ICE known as 287(g) agreements as of last week, per federal data — up from 11 in early June.
- The agreements allow such agencies to carry out immigration enforcement and supplement federal officers, who have limited resources.
Plus: Removal orders issued to Pennsylvanians reached at least 869 in June, per the latest data from the nonpartisan Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).
- That's up from 567 in January.
Zoom in: ICE arrests and activity in the Philly region are raising concerns and sparking protests.
- Last Friday, dozens protested ICE's recent arrest of a man outside the Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice, per Billy Penn.
- And a raid at a Norristown supermarket last week resulted in the arrests of more than a dozen undocumented immigrants, per WHYY.