(LOS ANGELES, SAN DIEGO, PHOENIX, DENVER, PORTLAND, PHILADELPHIA, EL PASO, NEW ORLEANS) The Trump administration is reshaping U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the agency fell short of the White House’s goal of 3,000 daily immigration arrests, replacing senior leaders in multiple cities and ordering broader enforcement tactics as of late October 2025. The changes reach deep into ICE’s field structure in the United States 🇺🇸, with Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) leaders stepping into roles traditionally held by career ICE managers, according to internal accounts.
Senior officials in at least eight ICE field offices—including Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Portland, Philadelphia, El Paso, and New Orleans—have been reassigned or replaced by CBP and Border Patrol personnel. DHS officials describe the move as a bid to tighten control and quicken operations after months of pressure to lift arrests. Career leaders see it as an unusual power shift that blurs lines between immigration enforcement and border operations and could weaken public trust.
Since January 2025, field offices have operated under strict daily quotas, with guidance to make at least 75 arrests per day in each office. Internally, that translated to a national target of 1,200–1,500 arrests daily. The White House, led by Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, has publicly pushed for a minimum of 3,000 daily immigration arrests. By June 2025, ICE had not hit that level, and numbers remained below the mark into the fall, despite extra funding, new teams, and stepped-up operations.
Leadership overhaul across key cities
As arrests lagged, DHS began rotating in Border Patrol and CBP leaders to run Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) field offices. The department framed the shifts as accountability moves; internally, critics said the approach sidesteps ICE’s community-based strategies and replaces them with a border-first playbook.
Notable personnel changes included reassignment or retirement of senior figures such as Kenneth Genalo (a senior ERO official) and Robert Hammer of Homeland Security Investigations, reportedly following clashes over pace and priorities tied to arrests and removals. DHS confirmed the personnel changes as part of a push for faster results.
Agents describe a sharp pivot away from the previous focus on people with criminal records or final orders of removal. Instead, teams report instructions to conduct wider sweeps aimed at anyone in the country without status, regardless of criminal history. Workplace operations have resumed in several regions, along with expanded use of public tip lines.
ICE has also adopted new mapping tools to find neighborhoods with higher numbers of people who have removal orders. Managers say these tools support faster planning, while community leaders warn they could cause fear and confusion.
Push for higher arrest numbers spurs tactical shifts
To meet quotas, ICE has taken several operational and staffing steps:
- Hiring changes
- Removed Spanish-language requirements and age caps
- Offered signing bonuses
- Accelerated academy schedules
- Training and readiness concerns
- Internal assessments show more than a third of recent recruits are failing basic fitness standards
- Trainers warn that lowering entry bars while pushing for higher arrest counts can create safety risks for officers and the public
- Intake and targeting shifts
- Intake rules were changed to expand who can be arrested
- Focus has moved toward larger sweeps of noncitizens without regard to criminal history
Inside DHS, arguments over arrest targets have intensified. Some leaders warn that a quota mindset rewards volume over public safety, diverting agents from cases involving people with serious criminal records to arrest non-criminals who are easier to find.
Field teams report an increase in arrests of people with no criminal history, which affects detention decisions and court backlogs. Analysis by VisaVerge.com indicates the administration’s emphasis on the 3,000 daily immigration arrests target collides with limits in detention capacity and transport — problems that surface when arrests rise sharply.
Operational picture and resources
The enforcement effort has produced an uneven operational landscape:
- DHS reassigned investigators from other agencies to support ERO.
- Military assets have been used for logistics and aerial support during larger actions.
- Detention numbers are up slightly, but the number of facilities in use has dropped.
- Advocates and some former managers question whether publicly shared data reflects transfers, releases, and returns fully, noting reporting gaps across field offices.
Legal challenges and community backlash are mounting. Workplace operations and home arrests have prompted lawsuits alleging due-process violations and discriminatory targeting. Mayors in several cities have requested DHS narrow operations back to individuals with criminal convictions or final orders, arguing broad sweeps undermine local policing and deter witnesses and victims from reporting crimes.
Faith groups and school districts report families making contingency plans for pickup, childcare, and legal help in case parents are detained during morning commutes or job shifts.
Effects on families, businesses, and communities
The ripple effects for affected families and communities are immediate:
- Parents picked up in workplace actions are often transferred out of state within 24 to 48 hours, separating them from lawyers and relatives.
- Small businesses hit by audits and raids struggle to replace staff quickly.
- Workers fear routine actions—such as updating a driver’s license—could expose them to risk.
- In mixed-status households, U.S. citizen children can face sudden care disruptions; local charities say this scenario is becoming more common.
Police and community relations are strained. Some police departments have paused cooperation on lower-priority requests, saying broad enforcement reduces neighborhood trust and reporting.
Business groups warn raids and audits disrupt local economies and may chill hiring. Immigration lawyers report clients with long-pending cases and no serious criminal history are now facing surprise arrests during routine check-ins.
Constraints and ongoing tensions
DHS leaders argue the changes are necessary to restore consequences for unlawful presence and to deter new arrivals. They maintain that stepped-up arrests, public tip lines, and mapping tools are essential to reach the administration’s national goal.
However, the 3,000 daily immigration arrests target remains out of reach. Field leaders cite multiple constraints:
- Court bottlenecks
- Limited detention space
- Transportation delays
- Significant planning time required for large actions, which does not fit neatly into a fixed daily quota
Tensions over mission have widened the gap between ICE and community partners. Some concerns raised internally include:
- Quota pressure leading to burnout and injuries among agents
- Newer recruits struggling to meet fitness benchmarks
- Constant pressure to hit numbers potentially undermining long-term operational effectiveness
DHS officials say more field offices will see rotations as the year closes, and performance reviews will weigh daily arrest averages more heavily. Managers are testing new scheduling patterns—longer shifts and weekend surges—to try to boost totals.
Important: For official information on ICE’s enforcement and removal mission, see the agency’s page at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The page outlines structures, contacts, and public reporting channels.
Community organizations recommend families prepare practical plans:
- Keep identification, medical records, school contacts, and attorney details in one place
- Discuss contingency plans with trusted relatives
- Keep copies of important documents and know a lawful point of contact
Local legal aid groups say these simple steps can steady families during sudden disruptions.
Looking ahead
As late October 2025 ends, DHS is doubling down on leadership changes and broader tactics. The central metric—reaching 3,000 daily immigration arrests—remains the defining test shaping careers inside ICE and daily life in the cities where arrests are rising.
Whether this strategy will produce the numbers the White House seeks or trigger further legal and operational pushback will determine the next phase of enforcement in 2026.
This Article in a Nutshell
As of late October 2025, the administration has reshaped ICE field operations by reassigning senior leaders in at least eight cities and placing Border Patrol and CBP personnel into roles in Enforcement and Removal Operations to accelerate arrests. Offices have operated under daily quotas since January 2025, producing an internal national target of 1,200–1,500 arrests while the White House publicly seeks 3,000 daily. Tactics shifted from prioritizing people with criminal records to broader sweeps of anyone without legal status, workplace arrests, public tip lines, and new mapping tools. Hiring changes — including relaxed language and age requirements, signing bonuses, and accelerated academies — accompanied the push, though internal reports note fitness failures and safety concerns. Resource constraints such as detention capacity, transportation, and court backlogs limit scaling. Legal challenges, community backlash, family separations, and business disruptions are rising. DHS says rotations and tactical changes will continue as leaders pursue the central arrest metric through 2026.
