Beyond the Border: Rising ICE arrests, detained commercial truck drivers and abuse during deportations to Liberia
Here's what happened this week in immigration news.
Written by Emma Chen, Edited by Kate Morrissey
Welcome to another edition of Beyond the Border, which summarizes immigration news from across the country in a weekly roundup. Did we miss something? Message us via kate@daylightsandiego.org or on Instagram.
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Immigration arrests
Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 49,571 people in July, a 15% increase from June and the highest monthly total of Trump’s second term, The Associated Press reported.
Federal immigration agents arrested nearly 2,000 people in San Diego and Imperial counties in July, about 60% of whom had no criminal convictions or pending charges, according to inewsource.
The Marshall Project reported that ICE has detained more than 610,000 people since Trump returned to office, including more than 45,000 in August, the latest month analyzed.
A Venezuelan asylum seeker with work authorization was arrested by ICE at an Atlanta airport and spent 21 days in detention before being released, CNN reported.
Border Patrol has been detaining immigrant commercial truck drivers on Arizona highways, sometimes forcing them to abandon trucks and cargo, The Arizona Republic reported.
Some Illinois prosecutors shared defendants’ information with federal immigration officials in cases that ultimately resulted in arrests and deportations, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Break Through News posted a video on Instagram showing ICE officers in Baltimore’s Greektown neighborhood detaining and handcuffing a woman who was recording their activity. The outlet said the officers "manhandled" her and pushed her against a wall.
Daylight San Diego reported that security footage shows federal immigration agents tackling a man who was filming them at a trolley station in November 2025 during an encounter in which at least two people required medical treatment.
ICE arrested British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos at a New Orleans airport after authorities said he overstayed his visa and missed an immigration hearing that resulted in a final removal order, The New Republic reported.
The Modesto Focus reported that the Ninth Circuit temporarily lifted an injunction barring large, non-targeted immigration raids in California’s Eastern District while sending the case back to a lower court.
ICE detained a Mississippi man after a car crash and transferred him to a detention center shortly before his wife was due to give birth, despite reports that he was close to receiving a green card, Mississippi Free Press reported.
Detention conditions
A newly launched database tracking deaths in ICE detention lists the more than 50 people who have died in civil immigration detention since Trump returned to office, AZ Luminaria reported.
LOOKOUT reported that transgender women held in ICE facilities have faced denials or lengthy interruptions of hormone therapy, causing significant physical and psychological effects.
An Arizona family says the father’s health has deteriorated so severely during nearly a year in ICE detention that he can barely walk and is not receiving the treatment he needs, The Copper Courier reported.
A disabled father is alleging in a federal lawsuit that ICE officials beat him during his arrest and that detention staff later denied him medical care and accommodations including his cane, hearing aids and medication, Capital & Main reported.
ProPublica found that two Florida jails repeatedly released and quickly rebooked hundreds of people in ICE custody, allowing some to spend far longer than the usual 72-hour limit for those facilities.
CalMatters reported that legislation heading to California’s governor would require agencies to release requested 911 and emergency-service records from privately operated immigration detention centers.
Immigration court updates
Immigrants who have not been convicted — and in some cases have not even been charged — are being mandatorily detained under the Laken Riley Act, raising due process concerns among immigration attorneys, KPBS reported.
CBS News Chicago reported that an immigration judge ordered six children ages 12 to 17 deported even though state courts deemed them abandoned and each had a pending application for special immigrant juvenile status.
Community impacts
Haitian Bridge Alliance posted on Instagram that it canceled an Aug. 29 community gathering after an increase in ICE arrests of Haitians in San Diego and warned community members to be especially cautious following the end of Temporary Protected Status.
Sahan Journal reported that Minnesota districts and charter schools with large English-learner populations lost about 1,700 students following Operation Metro Surge, compared with fewer than 80 during the same period the previous year.
NBC News reported that 20-year-old Haitian college student Pierre Damas Bel died in an apparent suicide after the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and ICE required him to wear an ankle monitor that his family said caused him significant distress.
If you or someone you know is struggling, contact 1-888-724-7240 (San Diego Access & Crisis Line), 1-800-843-5200 (California Youth Crisis Line) or call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Line).
Researchers in El Paso found unusually high rates of preeclampsia and gestational diabetes among Latina prenatal patients while examining how immigration-related stress and other pressures may affect maternal health, The Border Chronicle reported.
The Texas Observer reported that immigrants have accused a woman of taking money for immigration legal services despite not being an attorney or accredited representative for more than a decade and despite a previous court case, the current Texas government is doing nothing to address the ongoing issue..
Third country removals
The Atlantic reported that around 60,000 migrants and non-Mexican deportees are living in Tapachula, Mexico. Mexican officials are preventing them from traveling to other parts of the country.
The New York Times reported that deportees sent by the U.S. to Liberia said they endured months in ICE detention and that their time in custody and deportation process included beatings, shackles, denial of medical care and other abusive treatment before ICE sent them to a country where many had no ties.
Other stories to watch
The Guardian reported that the Justice Department ordered states receiving certain federal welfare funds to expand reporting of undocumented immigrants across their entire state governments, reversing a nearly 30-year-old policy that limited the requirement to specific agencies.
USA Today reported that a Texas mom created a database mapping companies that contract with ICE, and the Department of Homeland Security later flagged the website as a domestic terrorism tool in an intelligence bulletin even while acknowledging that some of the activity it described was protected by the First Amendment.
A flight attendant found an ICE agent’s gun unattended in a public restroom past security at San Francisco International Airport before police responded and the agent returned for it, NBC Bay Area reported.
CALÓ News reported that more than 4,500 migrant remains have been documented in the Arizona-Sonora borderlands since 2000 as deaths in the desert continue despite increased enforcement efforts from the Trump administration.
The Chicago Tribune reported that former Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino retired while under an internal investigation into alleged misconduct during immigration enforcement operations in Chicago and Minneapolis, including questions about his credibility in federal court and alleged anti-semitic remarks.
NPR reported that ICE now says it has enough body cameras to equip all of its officers and agents nationwide, with officials expecting deployment by the end of September after deadly shootings renewed demands for greater transparency and accountability.
Thanks for reading! Take care and stay well.
— Emma
