ICE arrests hit record high in July as enforcement quietly ramps up
ICE agents arrive to clear protesters from a gate outside the Delaney Hall detention facility on June 11, 2026, in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Andres Kudacki/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 51,000 individuals in July, according to sources familiar with the data.
The arrests are the largest in a single month in DHS history, according to data.
It comes as ICE is ramping up arrests at airports — with ICE arresting over 30 people at airports in July, agency data shows.
Those being detained in some cases do not have criminal records and have valid work authorization or parole documents, according to one immigration attorney that spoke with ABC News.
The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment about the numbers.
In June, DHS announced that the total number of deportations so far this fiscal year is 356,389, according to the numbers posted by ICE.
ICE has quietly been increasing their operations around the country, according to a law enforcement source.
Some allies of President Donald Trump say the numbers should be released in full and the enforcement doesn’t go far enough.
“The point is the numbers remain wildly disproportionately low to the scale of illegals let in by Biden and the promise of mass deportation,” Mike Howell, the president of the Trump-aligned Oversight Project, told ABC News. “The numbers will stay low until worksite enforcement is the central pillar of the strategy. I’m very worried about the amnesty lobby continuing to use inflated deportation statistics to push for a grand compromise and sell out. That’s why I’m suing DHS for real data and will keep doing it until I don’t have to.”
Luigi Mangione attends a pretrial appearance at Manhattan Criminal Court on Aug. 11, 2026, in New York City. (David Dee Delgado-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione is expected to plead guilty Friday to federal charges accusing him of stalking and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Mangione has come to this point once before and backed out. If he moves forward with the anticipated guilty plea, he is guaranteed no leniency. According to sources, there is no plea bargain with federal prosecutors and Mangione could face life in prison.
A guilty plea could complicate Mangione’s murder prosecution in state court, where trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 8. His federal trial was set for Jan. 5.
Defense attorneys have already tried to dismiss the murder charges on double jeopardy grounds. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is prepared to move forward, arguing stalking and murder address different harms.
Members of Thompson’s family, including his widow, and executives from UnitedHealthcare are expected in the federal courtroom in Manhattan for Friday’s 11 a.m. hearing. Members of Mangione’s family are not expected to attend, sources said.
About three dozen members of the public — including at least one person who camped out in a tent overnight — lined up outside the courthouse Friday morning to try to secure a seat in the courtroom.
Mangione’s supporters are often outspoken during his hearings, but there were little-to-no demonstrators on Friday morning. And with the federal court limiting what members of the public can wear, Mangione’s supporters were not donning their normal shirts proclaiming his innocence.
Mangione is accused of gunning down Thompson on Dec. 4, 2024, in Midtown Manhattan, and he was captured in Pennsylvania after a five-day manhunt. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced that Mangione was indicted on first degree murder charges on Dec. 17, 2024, and federal prosecutors announced separate charges of stalking and murder on Dec. 19, 2024.
Mangione pleaded not guilty in the separate state and federal cases.
The charges in both cases have narrowed over the last year. In the federal case, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett in January threw out the murder and firearm charges, leaving two counts: stalking – travel in interstate commerce and stalking – use of interstate facilities.
In the state case, Judge Gregory Carro last September dismissed the first-degree murder and terrorism charges. In the state case, Mangione is still charged with murder in the second-degree, criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second-degree, and multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second-degree, third-degree and fourth-degree.
(NEW YORK) — More than 60 million people from Ohio to Massachusetts and Virginia are bracing for possible flash flooding on Monday following a deadly holiday weekend heat wave that left much of the East Coast sweltering in triple-digit temperatures.
New York City and Long Island appear to be in the center of the storm zone, with a level 3 out of 4 threat for flash flooding. Southern Connecticut, Rhode Island and southeast Massachusetts are also expected to get heavy rain.
Up to 3 inches of rain per hour is possible in some parts of the Northeast, and some areas could receive up to 8 inches.
A flood watch is in effect for the entire New York City metropolitan area through Monday night.
A flash-flood warning has been issued for more than 2.5 million people in the Philadelphia area, where flooding was already reported Monday, including in the Lemon Hill Park neighborhood in North Philadelphia.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released an online video statement on Sunday, advising New Yorkers to take precautions.
“We ask New Yorkers in this time to stay safe, stay prepared, and to keep an eye out for one another,” said Mamdani, adding that city workers were out over the weekend clearing catch basins and preparing neighborhoods that are historically flood-prone for the impending storm.
The mayor asked New Yorkers who live in basement apartments to plan to evacuate.
“If you see water rising around you, move to higher ground,” Mamdani said.
The storms expected on Monday follow a multi-day heat wave. Parts of the mid-Atlantic and South saw heavy rain on Sunday night.
At one point, more than 800,000 utility customers from Oklahoma to Connecticut lost electricity on Sunday, including 85,000 in New York, according to the website PowerOutage.com.
In New Jersey, Gov. Mikie Sherrill said that thunderstorms on Friday night and over the weekend knocked out power to nearly 300,000 utility customers and that wind gusts of up to 80 mph toppled trees and power lines.
At least 25 people are suspected to have died in New Jersey from the sweltering heat wave that had enveloped a large portion of the country, officials said.
At least 60,424 utility customers in New Jersey, 43,664 in New York, more than 95,000 across Pennsylvania and at least 100,000 in Michigan remained without power on Monday morning, according to PowerOutage.com.
New Jersey Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington told reporters at the news conference on Saturday that many of the people who perished in the heat in New Jersey were found in homes without air conditioning.
(NEW YORK) — Frank Carone, a former chief of staff to ex-New York Mayor Eric Adams, was arrested on Wednesday morning along with his brother Anthony and two others as part of a federal bribery case, according to federal investigators.
While serving as chief of staff, Carone allegedly, “agreed to accept a series of bribe payments” as part of a scheme to “exploit the city’s migrant crisis for profit,” according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court.
In 2022, during the influx of migrants into New York, the city needed to rent entire hotels to accommodate asylum-seekers using emergency contracts.
Carone allegedly accepted $120,000 in bribes from two co-defendants, Crystal Chen and Yan Po Zhu, in exchange for steering a multimillion-dollar emergency contract to a Microtel in Long Island City, Queens, that they controlled, federal prosecutors alleged.
To conceal the bribes, the payments were allegedly funneled through an account that Carone’s brother, Anthony, controlled, the indictment said.
“In total, Zhu and Chen paid approximately $120,000 to F. Carone in exchange for an Emergency Shelter Contract for the Microtel, which was laundered through the Law Firm #2 account by A. Carone and his co-defendants,” the indictment said.
The indictment included photographs of Zhu and Carone socializing at Zhu’s Long Island home in June 2022, a time when the indictment said Zhu and Chen’s efforts to secure an Emergency Shelter Contract through other means were stalling.
“Zhu leveraged his burgeoning personal relationship with the defendant, Frank V. Carone,” the indictment said.
The city ultimately awarded Microtel a nearly $7 million contract, even though it was smaller than another Long Island City hotel under consideration.
The indictment quoted an unnamed city employee who allegedly “lamented that replacing the professional’s staff’s recommendations with the Microtel ‘meant a loss of 75 units,’ which would necessitate opening more locations to make up the difference.”
The defendants are charged with 13 counts, including conspiracy, federal program bribery and obstruction.
Carone helped with Adams’ transition into office in January 2022 and served as the mayor’s chief of staff until December that year, when he departed the administration.
As he departed, he said that in his position it had been an “honor keeping the trains running for this administration,” according to a press release at the time.
Arthur Aidala, an attorney representing Carone, said in a statement to ABC News that Carone was notified that he was under federal investigation three years ago and denied the allegations.
“Frank Carone was part of an administration that publicly challenged what it viewed as the previous White House’s dangerous immigration policies and their harmful impact on New York City,” Aidala said in a statement to ABC News. “Following an extensive three-year investigation that examined numerous aspects of Mr. Carone’s personal and professional life, prosecutors ultimately brought these charges.”
“Mr. Carone maintains his innocence and looks forward to addressing these allegations through the legal process. He is confident that the facts will demonstrate that he acted lawfully and appropriately at all times,” Aidala added.
Attorney information for the other defendants was not immediately available.
Todd Shapiro, a spokesperson for former Mayor Adams, said in a statement that his “prayers are with [Carone’s] family”
“Frank Carone has dedicated decades of his life to public service, the legal profession, and helping countless individuals, businesses, and charitable organizations throughout New York,” he said.
