President Donald Trump has established a formidable new target for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials - conducting 3,000 arrests every day as part of his intensified deportation strategy. This dramatic escalation signals a significant shift in immigration enforcement priorities under the current administration.

According to the Daily Mail, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller characterized the 3,000 daily arrests goal as only temporary, indicating that the administration plans to further increase enforcement targets in the future.

During Trump's first 100 days back in office, ICE has already arrested 66,463 illegal immigrants and deported more than 65,000, including approximately 17,000 with criminal convictions or pending charges. The ambitious new daily quota, however, represents a significant acceleration from current arrest rates.

Border czar backs enforcement boost

Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, has publicly endorsed the ambitious new benchmark, expressing dissatisfaction with current enforcement numbers despite recent progress.

"We've gotta increase these arrests and removals," Homan stated on Thursday morning. "The numbers are good, but I'm not satisfied. I haven't been satisfied all year long."

ICE reported deporting 17,200 people in April alone, which represents approximately 4,000 more deportations than occurred during the same month in 2024 under the Biden administration. The agency has highlighted its success in removing gang members, murderers, and child rapists as part of these operations.

Legal challenges mount

The administration has encountered significant legal obstacles to its deportation initiatives, particularly regarding certain controversial enforcement tactics.

Specifically, deportation schemes that have sent foreign nationals to a notorious Salvadoran prison under the wartime Illegal Aliens Act have faced legal challenges. Other migrants have been sent to third-party nations with limited legal recourse to contest their deportations.

Reports indicate that even if the administration achieves its target of 3,000 daily arrests, this would still fall considerably short of Trump's campaign promise to remove up to 20 million illegal immigrants from the United States as part of what he described as "the largest domestic deportation operation in American history."

New courtroom tactics revealed

Immigration enforcement officials have reportedly implemented new strategies to boost arrest numbers, including controversial courtroom tactics in immigration courts across the country.

Government attorneys were instructed to begin dismissing cases when appearing for work on Monday, knowing that federal agents would then be positioned to arrest those same individuals as they exited the courtroom. This approach affects people without criminal records, migrants lacking legal representation, and asylum seekers.

Three U.S. immigration officials, speaking anonymously due to fear of employment repercussions, described how the process works: when migrants arrive in court to present their immigration cases, prosecutors dismiss the case and a judge rules they are free to leave, only for ICE agents to be waiting outside to arrest them immediately.

Administration accelerates enforcement strategy

The White House's push for dramatically increased daily arrests comes amid reports that President Trump has expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of enforcement operations.

Officials have discovered that tracking down illegal migrants, particularly those with criminal records, presents more significant challenges and proceeds more slowly than initially anticipated. This realization has apparently prompted the administration to adopt more aggressive tactics to boost enforcement numbers.

If achieved, the 3,000 daily arrest target would represent a dramatic increase from current levels. However, immigration advocates and legal experts continue to question both the feasibility and legality of such large-scale enforcement operations, particularly given the legal hurdles the administration has already encountered.