President Trump campaigned on a threat to deport one million immigrants from this country per year. We saw an ongoing escalation of the numbers of immigrants targeted in Massachusetts throughout 2025 and continuing into early this year, but still well below deporting one million people. However, this is beginning to change.
Over this past year and a half, the administration has amassed funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, hired more agents, entering into more partnerships with local and state law enforcement, and basically positioned ICE to exponentially increase these numbers. ICE has now proudly announced that July 2026 was a record month with 49,571 people arrested, and now they have surpassed that record in August, arresting 50,925 individuals nationally.
But when we share these statistics in Massachusetts, we immediately are asked, are arrests also increasing here? In Massachusetts, in 2025, we were the target of several surges of ICE activity, particularly around Operation Patriot, and Operation Patriot 2.0. And our communities were also impacted by ongoing ICE presence in courthouses across the state, increased law enforcement in the streets, and some collaboration between local police and ICE.
According to analysis of data from the Deportation Data Project, there have now been 9,783 total arrests in Massachusetts from 1/20/2025 thru 8/6/2026.
However, as other states increase collaborations with ICE, the number of arrests happening in Massachusetts seem to dwarf in comparison. Arrests are particularly increasing in Texas and Florida, where there are extensive formal partnerships between ICE and local law enforcement, especially 287(g) agreements. New 287(g) agreements which are expanding in other parts of the country have been constructively banned in Massachusetts under our new PROTECT Act.
The PROTECT Act will also stop the courthouse arrests and some of the types of collaboration and information sharing with ICE that has facilitated some arrests this past year and a half. However, immigrants in our state still remain vulnerable to new surges of ICE activity, and there are some indications that such activity is being planned for the Boston area, with recent reports of ICE seeking parking spots and booking hotel rooms.
Even though overall we may not have high numbers of arrests comparable to what’s happening in some parts of the country, and even though we are protecting our community members in key locations, there is risk ahead. Data shows that the number of immigration arrests in Massachusetts is steadily rising, and new ICE operations could result in thousands more. We need to be prepared and vigilant about what is happening in our communities.
MIRA stands in solidarity with every immigrant and refugee family navigating this uncertainty. We urge community members to seek out verified know-your-rights resources, share verified information with neighbors and loved ones, and lean on trusted local organizations rather than rumor or speculation. Preparedness and community are our strongest tools right now.