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New figures released Wednesday by Homeland Security show that undocumented immigrant arrests have dropped significantly across the Los Angeles area two months after the Trump administration launched an aggressive mass expulsion operation.
Federal authorities told the Times on July 8 that 2,792 undocumented immigrants have been arrested in LA and seven surrounding counties since June 6. Homeland Security broke the number on Wednesday, showing that fewer than 1,400 migrants were arrested last month.
“Since June 6, 2025, ICE and CBP have arrested a total of 4,163 people in the Los Angeles area,” Homeland Security spokesman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement provided to The Times.
The 1,371 arrests across the LA area since July 8th are much higher than the recent month before June, but represent a marked decline from the 2,792 arrests the previous month.
The new numbers confirm what many immigration experts are skeptical. The Trump administration’s immigration agenda in Los Angeles has prevented federal agents from arresting people without reason who might believe they are illegally in the United States.
McLaughlin said Wednesday that Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem’s agenda remains the same.
“The Gnome Secretary has released ice and CBP to arrest illegal aliens for crimes, including terrorists, gang members, murderers, pedophiles and sexual predators,” McLaughlin said in a statement Wednesday. “We will continue to implement the law and eliminate the worst and worst.”
Trump administration officials have long argued that they are focusing on criminals. But days after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller announced in late May that he had set a new goal of arresting 3,000 undocumented immigrants a day, federal agents crossed LA and robbed people from work from the streets.
Tom Homan, the White House’s top border policy advisor, suggested that federal officials adopted strategies to raid roads and workplaces to avoid “sanctuary” jurisdictions such as Los Angeles.
“If we can’t arrest them in prison, we’ll go out to the community,” Homan told CBS News.
But the administration’s ability to step up deportation across LA was hit by federal courts after local protesters gathered to resist and Trump deployed the National Guard and the US Marines to the city.
On July 11, US District Judge Mame Mensa Frimon, appointing President Biden, issued a temporary restraining order that blocked federal agents in Southern California and Central California from targeting people based on their race, language, vocation, or location, without a reasonable doubt that they are in the United States.
The decision was upheld last Friday by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It could be appealed to the Supreme Court.
“If, as the defendants suggest, they are rarely able to argue that they are irreparably hurtful by injunctions aimed at preventing a subset of stops that are not endorsed by reasonable doubt,” he wrote.
It’s hard to know if the July figures indicate a lasting change in tactics.
On Tuesday, Border Patrol agents carried out an assault at Home Depot in Westlake, arresting 16 people.
“Think again for those who thought immigration enforcement was stopped in Southern California,” we play Atty. Bill essay posted on X shortly after the attack. “Federal law enforcement is not negotiable and there is no sanctuary out of reach of the federal government.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass added that her office is investigating the issue, “from the video and stills it looks exactly like what we’ve seen before.”
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