Border security czar Tom Homan keeps threatening to “flood” New York City with ICE agents. But a new investigation shows that ICE has been quietly ramping up arrests, disproportionately targeting Latino neighborhoods and using racial profiling as a key tool.

In the metropolitan area between October 2025 and mid-March, there were 430 street arrests, of which 93 percent involved Latinos. Many of those arrested weren’t even the intended targets; agents grabbed them while looking for others because they supposedly looked like their actual targets.

ICE isn’t the only form of law enforcement on the streets in search of immigrants. Local police departments and sheriff’s offices have taken on work on behalf of ICE, with Trump ordering many agencies to prioritize immigration arrests.

The Obama administration suspended the task force model under 287(g) agreements due to allegations of racial profiling and civil rights violations. But Trump brought it back, making up the majority of new agreements. Texas and Florida lead the pack in cooperation with ICE, even requiring local law enforcement to work with DHS.

Nationwide, ICE carried out more than 400,000 arrests in the first 14 months of Donald Trump’s second term, according to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. A growing number of these apprehensions involved Latinos with no criminal past or outstanding deportation orders, suggesting that agents are illegally profiling people on the street.