ICE reveals new data to Congress members about San Diego immigration enforcement operations

Alarmed by heightened immigration enforcement across San Diego County last summer, members of the local Democratic congressional delegation requested information from the Trump administration on the scope of the operation and tactics being used. Nine months later, they got some answers.

The response, given in a letter sent by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's acting director, revealed that the agency removed about 16,400 people and arrested 10,500 in San Diego and Imperial counties during the first 14 months of President Donald Trump's second term. Furthermore, 1,454 of those arrests occurred "in or near" sensitive locations, such as churches, schools and hospitals.

"We need these numbers to be publicly available so people understand what's actually going on," U.S. Rep. Mike Levin said in an interview.

The rarely shared data came in response to a July 17 letter in which Levin, joined by Congress members Juan Vargas, Scott Peters and Sara Jacobs, expressed concerns about the "tactics and lack of transparency" used during two ICE operations conducted in Oceanside the previous month.

Then, on April 14, just days before announcing his resignation, Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, responded on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security. The data spans from Jan. 20, 2025, the day Trump took office for a second time, to April 2026.

ICE's website used to release nationwide and field office data on arrests and removals, among other information. However, it has not been updated since Trump took office last year. But the agency had previously provided some information to the Deportation Data Project in response to a public records request, which the Union-Tribune has previously analyzed.

Levin said that the removal numbers Lyons shared were higher than he expected. The majority of individuals removed were from Mexico, nearly 10,900. Guatemala followed with 996, and Venezuela with 544.

"This activity reflects ICE's renewed focus on executing final orders of removal, addressing public-safety threats, and reducing the absconder population consistent with the law," Lyons said about removals originating from the San Diego area.

Lyons did not respond to a question from the congress members about how many of those deported or arrested had a violent criminal record. But he said the agency has the authority to arrest and remove individuals "no matter the extent of their criminal histories."

"Being unlawfully present in the United States is itself a violation of federal law," Lyons said.

He added that some individuals "have committed crimes in their countries of origin or last country of known residence, but those criminal histories are unknown to U.S. law enforcement."

Levin said he has been requesting that information for about a year. "That's a question that deserves an answer," he said. "We consistently request that data, but ICE consistently refuses to provide it."

Data previously provided by ICE to the Deportation Data Project show that, from January 2025 through March 10, 2026, approximately 59% of arrests by the San Diego field office were of individuals with no pending criminal charges or prior convictions.

"I appreciate ICE's response, and it is largely consistent with what we believed to be occurring in San Diego. However, the numbers in this letter are quite troubling," Rep. Scott Peters said in a statement.

"When President Trump took office, he promised the American people that his immigration agenda would target the ‘worst of the worst,' yet this letter raises serious questions: Are the 16,000 individuals who were removed from San Diego the ‘worst of the worst'? Do they have criminal records, or are these removals simply part of a broader effort to hit an arbitrary quota by this Administration? Our constituents deserve to know who is being removed from their communities and why."

ICE did not respond on Wednesday to an inquiry about how many detainees and deportees in the San Diego area had criminal records.

The two operations mentioned by lawmakers in the letter took place within days of each other in Oceanside in June.

In the first incident, ICE arrested a father after he dropped off his 7-year-old son at school. The second incident resulted in the arrests of a mother and father at their family home. During that operation, ICE agents reportedly shattered windows, used flash grenades and handcuffed the couple's two U.S.-born teenage children.

"While we strongly support a secure border, the broadness of these operations and the militarized tactics involved create a ripple effect of fear in communities that disrupt the quality of life of all," the lawmakers wrote in the July letter. "Our local communities should not have to live in fear of being woken up by the sound of shattering windows and masked armed agents with flash grenades, nor should they be afraid of being picked up off the street after bringing their children to school."

Questions were also sent out about how many operations have occurred at or near "sensitive locations" in the San Diego area.

Lyons said that arrests in or near sensitive locations are "fully within the agency's statutory authority." On Inauguration Day, the Trump administration rescinded a years-long policy that limited immigration arrests in places previously considered off-limits, with certain exceptions.

The matter has been challenged in court, including in an ongoing lawsuit filed in an Oregon federal court. Logan Heights' Our Lady of Guadalupe parish joined the suit as a plaintiff.

When asked about how immigration officers identify themselves during operations, the former ICE director said to lawmakers that "ICE officers may initially identify themselves as ‘police' because it is the universally recognized term for law enforcement." He added that, apart from specialized units, ICE officers work in plainclothes, but their field equipment displays "ICE," "POLICE" or both.

The use of the word "police" on ICE uniforms has caused concern among some community leaders and elected officials before, as they believe it may cause confusion within the community.

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This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 5:21 PM.