ICE Arrests 11,000 Illegal Aliens In First 18 Days Of Trump Administration

President Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has racked up 11,000 illegal alien arrests in the first 18 days of this administration as the president seeks to enact the largest mass deportation operation in the history of the United States.

The figure, reported by the New York Post, includes a multitude of violent criminal offenders and members of gangs and cartels.

The arrests have resulted in the capture of Fernando Vasquez-Mendoza in Rio Grande Valley, Texas, with ICE explaining that the man, a previously deported Mexican national, is a hired killer working on behalf of the Gulf Cartel.

Federal immigration enforcement agents have also arrested Cristian Jose Concepcion-Manrique, a member of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua who had a prior assault conviction and illegally entered the United States in December by way of El Paso.

The Daily Wire highlighted a number of violent criminals captured around the country on the last Sunday in January, including a Tren de Aragua member, a Mexican national in possession of child pornography, a drug and weapons trafficker, and even a member of MS-13 who engaged in “acts of terrorism” in his home country.

From drug traffickers in Baltimore to cartel members in Houston, ICE is deporting criminals illegal aliens across the country.@MaryMargOlohan and I reported for @realDailyWire on some of the worst offenders captured this Sunday. ???? pic.twitter.com/jDlZOJmx3C

— Spencer Lindquist ???????? (@SpencerLndqst) January 29, 2025

ICE’s arrest figures are already on track to dwarf those of the previous administration, which made 33,000 arrests through ICE last year, a Department of Homeland Security official said.

The recent arrests are also testing ICE’s ability to hold such a high number of detainees. While ICE has the resources to hold 41,500 detainees, it now says it is “burning well over that to the tune of several hundred million dollars.”

ICE is expected to open four different detention facilities Friday, each of which will be operated by the Bureau of Prisons.

The Trump administration has also begun flying criminal illegal aliens to Guantanamo Bay, with Marines also being sent to the naval base to establish more detention capacity for illegal alien detainees. Trump says that once complete, it will be able to hold 30,000 illegal aliens.