New York audit finds 71% jump in federal immigration arrests

Federal immigration arrests in the New York City area surged after Donald Trump returned to the White House, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement arresting 5,567 people between January 20, 2025, and March 10, 2026. More than half of those arrests took place at immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, turning a place meant for legal proceedings into a central site of enforcement.

The city’s audit, released on May 22, 2026, found that the total marked a 71% jump from the same stretch at the end of the Biden administration. It landed as Mayor Zohran Mamdani used Executive Order 13, signed in February 2026, to force a citywide review of how agencies interact with federal immigration authorities. The report puts a hard number on what immigrant advocates have described for months: enforcement is no longer confined to border crossings or jails, but has moved into courthouses, shelters and check-in offices across Manhattan.

The stakes are especially high in New York, where nearly 40% of residents are foreign-born and the share rises above 60% when children of immigrants are included. The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs estimated roughly 412,000 undocumented immigrants lived in the city as of 2022. The audit said city laws and agency policies are meant to help people seek medical care, report crimes and use public services without fear tied to immigration status, yet federal targeting has intensified against city shelters and jail systems.

The report also found sharply increased detainer requests to the Department of Correction and the New York City Police Department. It recommended auditing emails between city corrections officials and ICE for improper communications and ending daily reports sent to ICE about certain noncitizens admitted into custody, a practice the city says has existed since about 2015. The audit said those reports are not required by federal, state or local law.

The courthouse arrests have drawn the fiercest backlash. More than 15 people were arrested in a single day in 2025 during routine ICE check-ins at the agency’s Lower Manhattan office on Elk Street. In September 2025, more than 75 elected officials, clergy, advocates and New Yorkers were arrested at 26 Federal Plaza during a protest against detentions there. In March 2026, Trump administration lawyers acknowledged in court filings that they had incorrectly relied on an ICE memo to justify some arrests at immigration courts like 26 Federal Plaza, adding to criticism that mandatory hearings are being turned into trap-like enforcement operations.

Mamdani said New York City is home to immigrants from every corner of the world and that no one should live in fear because of their status. His administration said it would implement the audit’s recommendations in the coming months, while the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately comment. The audit shows how local sanctuary-style rules are being tested against a federal enforcement model that is now reaching deep into daily life in New York.