Under the Radar: US Immigration Arrests Continue Despite Reduced Visibility
- Immigration enforcement operations across the United States, while receiving intense scrutiny in some areas, continue at a steady pace nationwide, advocates say.
- Recent weeks have seen a series of detentions, including day laborers swept up at a Home Depot in San Diego, a taco truck vendor pursued and detained outside...
- In Southern California, arrests have continued at a consistent rate in the early months of 2026, according to activists and legal experts.
Immigration enforcement operations across the United States, while receiving intense scrutiny in some areas, continue at a steady pace nationwide, advocates say. While public attention remains focused on the situation in Minneapolis, arrests are occurring in cities and states across the country, often employing tactics that evade public notice.
Recent weeks have seen a series of detentions, including day laborers swept up at a Home Depot in San Diego, a taco truck vendor pursued and detained outside a church in Los Angeles, individuals arrested during routine check-ins in North Carolina, and those apprehended during traffic stops in Washington D.C. These actions are contributing to a climate of fear within immigrant communities and disrupting daily life, impacting access to work, education, and healthcare.
In Southern California, arrests have continued at a consistent rate in the early months of , according to activists and legal experts. Los Angeles experienced large-scale immigration raids during the summer of , which significantly disrupted daily routines. Even after national media attention shifted, advocates report a persistent pattern of arrests.
The Immigrant Defenders Law Center, a non-profit firm based in Los Angeles, has observed a marked increase in calls to its legal resource hotline. The firm received approximately 400 calls per month for the past six months, but that number jumped to 546 in January . “More or less, each one of those calls represents a person who has been recently detained,” said Yliana Johansen-Méndez, chief program officer for the law center.
A shift in tactics is also apparent. Previously, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Los Angeles often involved establishing a presence in a single location, such as a parking lot near Dodger Stadium, and conducting operations in that area for an extended period. More recently, however, ICE arrests have become quicker and more mobile, described as “smash and grab” operations. “They just kind of show up in an area, do a sweep, grab a bunch of people, and by the time any responders can get there, they’re gone,” Johansen-Méndez explained. “So people aren’t catching it on camera. There’s no time for protesters or for attorneys, or any legal observers, to show up. And so they’re flying under the radar by doing it faster.”
Adriana Jasso, a member of the activist organization Unión del Barrio, noted a similar acceleration of arrests in San Diego, where immigration arrests surged between May and October . Witnesses reported that a recent operation near a San Diego Home Depot in late December was completed in approximately five minutes. Neither ICE’s San Diego field office nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to requests for comment on the speed or frequency of recent arrests in the region.
In Portland, Oregon, residents remain on edge following a previous attempt by the Trump administration to deploy the National Guard to quell demonstrations outside an ICE facility. While a federal judge blocked that deployment, protests have continued as federal agents maintain regular immigration check-ins at the facility. Recent incidents, including shootings involving border patrol agents and the arrest of a seven-year-old child and her parents while seeking emergency medical care, have further heightened tensions.
While immigration operations in Portland appear to have decreased from their peak last year, the fear remains palpable. Alyssa Walker Keller, a coordinator for a statewide hotline and rapid response network organized by the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC), reported 79 calls regarding detentions in January , compared to approximately 1,100 calls in the second half of , including roughly 300 each month during Operation Black Rose, a period of intensified enforcement from October through December . Detentions rose 1,500% when agents arrived in October.
“The impact on the folks who are in these vulnerable statuses, who are being targeted right now is, this is such a dramatic, such a profound sense of being hunted,” said Walker Keller. Community members are increasingly hesitant to attend school or seek medical care, prompting teachers and healthcare workers to organize “know your rights” training sessions to build trust and ensure access to essential services. “We function together as a community with these people, working as community members,” said Matthew Breeze, a Portland-area doctor of medicine. “We can’t simply make them all fearful to engage.”
In Charlotte, North Carolina, the situation remains tense following a major operation in November , when Customs and Border Protection agents descended on the city and arrested dozens of people. While the large-scale, visible arrests have subsided, Andreina Malki, a spokesperson for Siembra NC, reported that undocumented motorists continue to be targeted during morning commutes. “Between 6am and 11am in the morning, when folks are going to work, we see people being stopped by ICE,” she said, noting a pattern of arrests targeting individuals in work vehicles.
Siembra NC tracks immigration enforcement activities and provides real-time alerts to communities. They have received 23 calls about detentions at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services check-in locations since CBP withdrew from the city, with many of those detained having no criminal record. Recently, the organization received a call regarding the detention of a green card holder during a check-in at a Charlotte office operated by GEO Group, a firm that manages federal immigration detention facilities for ICE.
In Washington D.C., the impact of a federal law enforcement deployment ordered by Donald Trump six months prior continues to be felt. While the deployment was ostensibly intended to combat crime, rights groups allege it was used as a pretext for indiscriminate immigration arrests. Arrests surged immediately after the announcement but declined in subsequent months. However, arrests remain elevated compared to pre-deployment levels, and federal agents continue to patrol the city, often assisted by local police.
Mutual aid networks have seen a significant increase in demand for legal referrals and grocery deliveries from individuals fearful of encountering immigration agents while shopping. Madhvi Bahl, a core organizer of the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, said the consequences of the arrests will be felt “for years to come.” A coalition of rights groups recently secured a preliminary injunction from a federal judge preventing warrantless immigration arrests without probable cause.
Austin Rose, a managing attorney at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, reported a decrease in warrantless arrests in December and January following the injunction. However, Amica has received reports of continued collaboration between federal agents and the Metropolitan Police Department, despite a local law limiting the city’s cooperation with ICE.
Back in California, tactics within San Diego’s federal courthouse have also shifted. Arrests are now more frequently occurring in private rooms during ICE check-ins, rather than in public hallways. Father Scott Santarosa, a Jesuit pastor, runs a program called Faith, which provides support to immigrants attending immigration hearings. He has observed increased tension at the courthouse and a growing number of new ICE agents undergoing training.
“It feels like the new recruits that we see coming in – and we see a lot of new recruits – I think they are just trained to see us as the enemy,” Santarosa said.