New Orleans became one of the Trump administration’s targets for immigration enforcement in December. Operation “Catahoula Crunch” led to a surge in ICE arrests before being scaled back in January, when agents were deployed to Minneapolis, having fallen far short of the agency’s reported arrest goals for the greater New Orleans area.
But following a slowdown this spring, ICE arrests have been climbing – though perhaps more quietly. In July, they reached all-time highs.
What’s driving these numbers, and who’s being impacted? To find out, The Lens analyzed public records obtained by The Deportation Data Project, an effort from academics and lawyers at UCLA and UC Berkeley.
First, a quick caveat: this data is drawn largely from DHS and ICE records obtained through FOIA requests, and ICE’s recordkeeping is imperfect. Some records are incomplete, or incorrectly filled out. And ICE agents sometimes misspell the names of Louisiana towns. The data, therefore, is limited, and some of these arrest figures are likely an undercount.
The arrests are sorted into three categories: custodial, at-large, and 287(g).
Custodial arrests: ICE agents take over cutody from a jail or prison.
At-large arrests: ICE agents arrest someone at their home, workplace, traffic stop a check-in, or elsewhere in public.
287(g): Local law enforcement officers arrest someone and process them for ICE, thanks to a signed agreement between the agencies.
Here’s five takeaways.
1. ICE arrests in Louisiana are at an all-time high and rising.
ICE arrest figures have been trending upwards since the start of the current Trump administration. Louisiana saw a spike in December, around the time of the “Catahoula Crunch” surge, though the operation led to only a fraction of the agency’s reported goal of 5,000 apprehensions.
Louisiana ICE arrests slowed in January, as the agency’s attention turned to Minneapolis, where public pushback escalated after ICE agents shot and killed two residents in separate incidents.
But arrests have been steadily rising again since the spring. In June, the U.S. Congress approved $70 billion in ICE funding. By July, the arrest figures in New Orleans —
and across the nation — reached an all-time high.
2. Kenner has seen the highest total number of arrests.
Louisiana has a few hotspots for ICE arrests. The map above includes all arrests, including when ICE takes someone into custody from local law enforcement or prison.
Some of the hotspots are around ICE facilities: Oakdale, which holds an immigration court, is listed as the apprehension city in hundreds of ICE arrests. So is St. Rose, where ICE moved their regional field office, previously in New Orleans, in November. Pollock, home to a federal correctional institute, is also a hotspot.
Other hotspots include the New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette metro areas. Kenner, whose police department signed a 287(g) agreement with ICE last March, has the single highest figure for overall arrests.
Since January 2025, there have been at least 725 ICE arrests in Kenner, 570 in Gretna, 549 in New Orleans, 274 in Metairie, and 508 in St. Rose, where the ICE field office now sits.
3. New Orleans has seen the highest number of “at-large” arrests.
This map shows only “at-large” arrests, meaning ICE did not formally take custody of the detainee from law enforcement or prison.
In other words: when only looking at arrests by ICE agents at home, work, or in public, New Orleans’ figures are higher than Kenner’s. That suggests that Kenner’s arrests figures are being driven at least in part by their 287(g) agreement, which New Orleans doesn’t have, while New Orleans arrests are the result of more proactive targeting by ICE.
4. ICE is mostly arresting people with no criminal history.
The Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security, and Gov. Jeff Landry have frequently justified the surge in immigration enforcement – and the ballooning budget behind it – with claims that the operations are targeting people with violent criminal histories.
ICE’s own records suggest the opposite is true.
ICE has arrested and detained only a handful of people with convictions for violent crime, while arresting thousands of people with no criminal history at all.
In July, ICE arrested just 10 people in Louisiana who had a conviction for a violent crime, and 629 with no criminal history at all. Nationally, July was the first month in Trump’s second term where a majority of people arrested by ICE — 51% — had no criminal charges.
That trend appears to be deepening, with non-criminal detainees driving much of the increase in arrests.
5. The surge in ICE arrests is due in part to local law enforcement.
Louisiana’s increase in ICE arrests appears driven in part by a recent increase in ICE apprehensions stemming from 287(g) agreements with local law enforcement. That’s new: a year ago, there were essentially zero ICE apprehensions resulting from such agreements.
This July, over 180 people were arrested by ICE thanks to 287(g) agreements.
These numbers may be rising alongside an increase in non-criminal detainees because some types of agreements let local law enforcement question someone about immigration status even when they are not suspected of any crime, such as during a traffic checkpoint. Louisiana police, sheriffs, and state agencies have signed over 90 such agreements with the Department of Homeland Security, according to DHS reports.
