ICE arrests on Long Island hit record high in January

Immigration arrests on Long Island reached a historic high at the start of the year and continued steadily into last month, new data shows, offering the first comprehensive local look at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s crackdown.

The 352 ICE arrests in January marked a peak in the monthly numbers covering October and early March. Newsday analyzed the statistics after the nonprofit Deportation Data Project released them last week. They confirm what immigration advocates called a "significant acceleration" in enforcement that also saw a record number of people challenging their detentions.

After federal agents killed two American citizens in Minnesota, the Trump administration in February withdrew thousands of agents from the state amid widespread protests. Immigration arrests dipped nationwide and on Long Island that month to 223, data shows.

But in the first 10 days of March, 118 people were arrested here, the data shows, potentially putting arrests on track to meet the January high, when there was an average of 11 (people per day.

Nationally, immigration arrests slowed after the December peak of 40,281. In January, there were 38,091 arrests nationwide. That dipped to 30,025 in February.

Islip Forward, a nonprofit immigrant advocacy organization that tracks ICE activity on Long Island, said the findings are consistent with what the group’s been seeing: a "sharp escalation" in immigration enforcement in late 2025 and a "significant acceleration" into the new year.

While the federal data only covers through March 10, Ahmad Perez, Islip Forward’s founder and executive director, said there’s been a drop off in ICE sightings on Long Island starting in late March, coinciding with ICE agents being deployed to airports to help during a partial government shutdown.

"Importantly, this shift should not be interpreted as a reduction in enforcement overall. Rather, it reflects a temporary redistribution of federal resources, following a period of sustained escalation," Perez said in an email.

He also noted that immigration activity is becoming "less publicly visible."

"Including early morning residential operations, activity near courthouses, and the use of unmarked or newly branded vehicles — dynamics that are not always captured in traditional reporting or arrest data alone," Perez said.

Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville), who’s been supportive of local police departments cooperating with federal immigration officials, said the rising arrests on Long Island are "rooted in common sense and public safety."

LaLota criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul for their sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration officials.

"The contrast is undeniable. The Hochul-Mamdani approach is driven by ideology. And NYC residents continue to flee to Long Island where we are guided by a simple responsibility to keep our kids safe and our communities secure," LaLota said in an email.

The Newsday analysis of the Deportation Data Project numbers show that people with no criminal background continue to make up the majority of those arrested on Long Island, outpacing the national numbers. Since last Fall, more than 60% of people arrested on Long Island were not convicted or charged with any crime.

Nationally, this share reached its peak of 48% in January 2026.

Newsday calculated all ICE arrests on Long Island by adding together four locations: Nassau and Suffolk Counties, the Nassau County Jail and the Central Islip processing area. Newsday looked at total arrests for each month in those locations and the average number of daily arrests.

Long Island arrests take up a growing share of all arrests by ICE in the New York City area, which includes Long Island, the five boroughs and surrounding counties. Since the Fall of 2025, arrests on Long Island make up more than half the arrests in the New York City area, although roughly 15% of New York’s unauthorized immigrants call Long Island home, according to the 2023 estimates of Migration Policy Institute analyzed by Newsday.

Most people arrested on Long Island since the Trump administration took office were men in their thirties, from Central American countries such as El Salvador and Honduras, the data shows. At least 17 of those arrested since the beginning of immigration crackdown were children, some as young as 5 years old.

The data shows 144 arrests logged on Long Island were listed as part of Nassau County’s agreement with ICE to help arrest and deport immigrants who don’t have legal status in the country. The partnership allows ICE to utilize the county jail in East Meadow to detain people and information sharing between Nassau Police and federal officials to arrest people.

Ify Chikezie, a staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said that the agreement between Nassau County and ICE "turns local cops into weapons of ICE" and likely contributed to the rise of arrests. NYCLU sued the county last summer over the partnership, arguing that the arrangement would lead to racial profiling. In late February, a state Supreme Court Justice upheld the agreement.

In January, Hochul announced a proposal to ban local police departments from entering into agreements with ICE.

There’s no such agreement between the agency and Suffolk County. ICE is using hold rooms in the Central Islip federal courthouse to detain immigrants.