Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested more than 2,300 illegal immigrants in Michigan through October 15, more than double the number in all of 2024.
The largest deportation effort in U.S. history, initiated as promised on the first day of President Donald Trump’s second term, more than doubled the 952 ICE arrests in Michigan in 2024 to 2,349 through Oct. 15, according to information from the Deportation Data Project cited by MLive.
“That doesn’t include any arrests made after Oct. 15 or those from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a separate immigration agency that has the authority to treat the entire state of Michigan as a border zone,” according to the news site.
The daily arrest average in Michigan jumped 230% since Trump took office, going from about three arrests per day in 2024 to a nearly a dozen last year.
While MLive focused almost entirely on arrests of illegal immigrants with strong ties to Michigan communities, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin noted in a recent statement most arrests involved “disgusting monsters including pedophiles, murderers, and fraudsters.”
Examples include George Jimenez-Sanchez, a 36-year-old illegal immigrant from Honduras with a warrant for gun possession and intent to distribute cocaine, and Indra Gurung, an illegal immigrant from Bhutan, who has previous convictions for stalking, aggravated stalking, domestic violence and OWI, according to ICE Detroit’s X feed.
Others involve suspected war criminal Charles Emile Mbayo, a high-ranking member of the National Provision Ruling Council that overthrew Sierra Leone’s government in the 1990s, reportedly killing dozens of political opponents in the process, according to ICE.
There was also the arrests of Tren de Aragua gang members from Venezuela, a convicted arsonist and convicted murderer nabbed on the same day, a previously deported illegal immigrant from Mexico wanted for alleged child exploitation, and an illegal immigrant from Venezuela facing charges for child pornography.
Illegal immigrants arrested by other law enforcement agencies in Michigan last year include Gilberto Hernandez-Mendez, an illegal immigrant who was reported to ICE following his arrest in Kent County for allegedly murdering his girlfriend’s mother and injuring two others in a shooting spree in February, as well as others facing charges for a Holland Township ATM break-in, a drunken 130mph car chase in Clare County, and stealing high-end trucks from dealerships in Michigan, Arizona, and Colorado.
DHS’s “Worst of the Worst” online database highlights at least 120 criminal illegal immigrants arrested in Michigan since Trump took office with a wide range of prior criminal convictions, including lascivious acts with a minor, burglary, sex offenses, assault, drug possession, homicide, smuggling, weapons offenses, sex assault, drug trafficking, racketeering, domestic violence, cocaine sales, identity theft, and others.
Those arrested hailed from across the globe, coming from China, Venezuela, Mexico, Peru, Cuba, Guatemala, Laos, Nigeria, Columbia, Honduras, Israel, Iraq, El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine, Romania, Pakistan, Ecuador, Somalia, Vietnam, and Jordan.
In total, DHS removed more than 622,000 illegal immigrants nationwide so far in Trump’s second term, while increasing state and local law enforcement partnerships by 830%, and encouraging more than 2 million illegal immigrants to self deport, according to the agency’s 2025 summary.
In addition, the Trump administration has significantly tightened security on both the northern and southern borders, resulting in a 93% year-over-year decline in illegal border crossings.
“Fiscal year 2026 has seen the lowest start to a fiscal year ever – 60,940 total encounters nationwide in October and November – lower than any prior fiscal year,” the summary read.
