U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested more than 10,000 people during a five-day period in late June, a sharp acceleration that saw a single-day peak of 2,400 detentions, according to internal documents and officials familiar with the data. The figures, which roughly double the daily average recorded earlier in the year, come as the United States hosts the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the Trump administration intensifies its deportation agenda. The surge was reported by multiple outlets and confirmed by a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson, who stated that agents are “fulfilling the promise” to arrest and deport “criminal illegal aliens.”

Viewed from Washington, the increase follows direct White House pressure on ICE to raise arrest numbers, with three officials telling The New York Times that the agency was instructed to set a new standard of at least 2,000 daily arrests. Internal guidance directed field offices to keep the maximum number of agents on duty seven days a week and to assign roughly 80 percent of personnel to enforcement operations. The DHS has framed the push as a public-safety measure, but immigration lawyers and lawmakers from both parties have scrutinised the tactics. A 56-year-old Catholic nun in Texas was arrested on her way to Sunday Mass, and several arrests inside a New York immigration courthouse appear to have violated court orders that barred the practice of detaining immigrants as they leave hearings. The agency has shifted toward more discreet enforcement after an operation in Minnesota earlier this year ended with the deaths of two U.S. citizens, prompting border czar Tom Homan to scale back high-profile raids.

The operational tempo has pushed the number of people in ICE detention to more than 63,000, an increase of nearly 4,000 in a matter of days. The administration has signalled it intends to deport one million people annually in fiscal years 2026 and 2027, and the Supreme Court recently allowed DHS to revoke Temporary Protected Status for Haiti and Syria, a decision that officials say clears the way to begin removing roughly 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians. Against this backdrop, the World Cup has been designated a top-tier federal security event, triggering a multi-agency deployment that includes ICE. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told CBS News that the agency’s role during the tournament focuses on counterfeit merchandise, high-risk individuals, and national-security threats, not mass immigration checks, though agents retain authority to act if they encounter a public-safety concern.

Separately, the international security cooperation underpinning the tournament drew public praise from FBI Deputy Director Christopher Wray during a visit to the International Police Cooperation Centre (IPCC). In a meeting with representatives of Morocco’s national security and territorial surveillance directorates (DGSN-DGST), Wray expressed gratitude for the kingdom’s “effective and concrete contribution” to securing all phases of the competition, describing Morocco as a “trusted partner with internationally recognised expertise and credibility.” He told assembled foreign security officials that the United States had thwarted a growing number of threats on its soil thanks to precise intelligence and sustained support from partner nations, and that securing 78 high-intensity matches in under two weeks would be impossible without close multilateral coordination. The World Cup continues through mid-July, with federal security perimeters active around stadiums, while ICE’s elevated arrest pace is expected to persist, though officials have not specified how long the daily targets can be maintained.