Continuing its campaign of high-profile immigration crackdowns in major cities across the country, the Trump administration on Wednesday launched sweeping new operations in New Orleans and Minneapolis aimed at arresting and deporting people without legal status.
The administration said it was targeting dangerous criminals: “the worst of the worst.” For example, in announcing the New Orleans operation, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) listed 10 violent criminals it said had been released from local jails because of the city's “sanctuary” policy.
But government data collected from other recent and ongoing administration raids—in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, North Carolinaand elsewhere—shows that the vast majority of people detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) do not have criminal records.
Instead, as agents work to satisfy administration's new quota of 3,000 ICE arrests per dayUp from 1,000 previously, they are increasingly rounding up non-criminals in public places, as White House top aide Stephen Miller – the architect of Trump's immigration agenda – instructed them to do back in May, according to the data. Wall Street Journal.
Instead of “developing targeted lists of immigrants suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, a long-standing practice,” the magazine reported, Miller advised agents to target “Home Depot, where day laborers commonly congregate, or 7-Eleven stores.”
Here's a quick look at all the cities the Trump administration has raided so far, and the state of play in each.
New Orleans
December 2025
Louisiana is the second conservative state to face massive immigration raids, after Tennessee. But New Orleans, like Memphis before it, is a city led by Democrats. Mayor-elect Helena Moreno, who was born in Mexico, issued a warning before the operation began. “Reports of due process violations and potential abuses in other cities are concerning,” Moreno said in a statement. “I want our community to be aware and informed of the protections available under the law.”
It is unclear which agencies are involved and how many agents will be swarming the city. Reports suggest the Border Patrol-led DHS crackdown will aim to arrest 5,000 people. Residents have been preparing for the arrival of the feds for several weeks; some businesses have ordered their workers to stay home or reported that workers are staying home out of fear.
Minneapolis
December 2025
Following President Trump's statement “xenophobic tirade” on Tuesday about Somali immigrants — among other things, he called them “garbage” — the administration ordered ICE to send roughly 100 officers, agents and other federal officials to Minneapolis-St. Paul must find and arrest the Somalis this week with final deportation orders. (Minnesota is home to the largest diaspora of Somalis in the world.)
“When they come from hell and complain and do nothing but be a bitch, we don't want them in our country,” Trump said Tuesday.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, warned that “targeting Somalis… means American citizens will be detained simply because they look Somali.” About 73% of Somali immigrants nationwide are naturalized U.S. citizens, according to the Census Bureau. Many others have had temporary legal status for decades under a program for migrants from countries in crisis.
Charlotte
November 2025
Last month, federal agents descended on Charlotte, where they were seen wearing tactical gear and masks while making arrests in public places, spreading fear. Charlotte, North Carolina's largest city and one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, has a rapidly growing Hispanic population; Senior Border Patrol official Greg Bovino, who led previous raids in Los Angeles and Chicago, is also from North Carolina. The agents quickly expanded their operations into Raleigh and other nearby cities.
“There is a strategy here”, Bovino recently told a podcasterreferring to his aggressive street tactics. “And this is self-deportation.”
Local officials said the North Carolina operation ended around November 20, but DHS disputed this assessment.. Only a third of those arrested in Charlotte were classified as felons. according to an internal DHS document obtained by CBS News..
Chicago
September 2025
Federal agents in Chicago, initially led by Bovino, used some of their most aggressive tactics to date, inciting violence and increasing tensions in the area of the nation's third largest city.
Reports include: deployment chemical agents near public school; handcuff the Chicago City Council member in the hospital; shooting and injury motorist; “coming down” from helicopters and using zip ties to hold down apartment residents.
“They are the ones turning this into a war zone,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in October. “They need to get out of Chicago if they're not going to focus on the worst of the worst, which is what the president says they're going to do.”
Last month, a federal judge rules that government officials, including Bovino, repeatedly lied about their behavior. “I see little reason to use the force that federal agents are currently using,” she wrote.
Bovino has since left Chicago, and the Border Patrol has sharply reduced its presence in the city. In total, more than 3,000 people were arrested in the region as a result of the federal operation.
Memphis
September 2025
In an effort to combat crime, Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee welcomed federal forces to the state beginning in late September; he also agreed to deploy the National Guard. Since then, more than a dozen agencies have participated, including the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Drug Enforcement Administration. In total, more than 2,600 residents were arrested, including undocumented immigrants; Immigration agents were spotted throughout the city.
Last month, a judge temporarily banned the Guard from participating in federal actions. The state appealed the order Tuesday.
Portland
June 2025
Since June, protesters have been gathering outside an ICE facility about two miles south of downtown Portland, Oregon, to protest increased immigration raids in the city. After several sporadic encounters, Portland Police Bureau reports showed that the size and intensity of nightly ICE protests in the city decreased in August and September.
Yet on Sept. 27, Trump directed his “war secretary”—Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—to rally troops against “domestic terrorists” near an ICE facility in Portland, encouraging the use of full force in a city he likened to a war zone.
Portland and Oregon sued, and last month a federal judge imposed a permanent ban on the deployment of troops.
Los Angeles
June 2025
In June, an immigration inspection at a Home Depot store in the predominantly Latino Westlake neighborhood sparked widespread protests in downtown Los Angeles, which in turn gave the Trump administration an excuse to deploy thousands of National Guard troops. Security guard leaves town after series of attacks successful legal challengesbut the purges continue. Federal agents have made nearly 9,000 immigrant arrests in the area over the past six months, according to DHS.
