How the U.S. immigration landscape looks more than a year into President Trump's second term

In the presidential campaign two years ago, one of Donald Trump's key issues was border security and immigration. While some spoke out against his hardline stance, his position convinced many Americans to vote him into office.

More than a year into his second term, President Trump has maintained an aggressive approach to immigration. Data released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and published by the Deportation Data Project shows ICE arrests in Texas were up 153% from Jan. 20 through Oct. 15 of 2025, compared to the same time period in 2024. The numbers, analyzed by the CBS News Data Team, showed that in the Dallas area specifically, arrests were up 126%.

"The Trump administration is certainly detaining a lot more people than the Biden administration did," said immigration attorney Paul Hunker, who previously served as chief counsel for ICE in Dallas, including during Trump's first term. "I think it's sort of indiscriminate detention."

Funding boost doubles ICE workforce  

Hunker described the difference between Mr. Trump's first and second terms as "night and day."

"The Trump administration is really putting pressure on ICE to increase its numbers," said Hunker.

Last year, ICE became the highest-funded American law enforcement agency thanks to a $75 billion budget increase with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The money helped the agency more than double its workforce from 10,000 to 22,000 agents, and has led to controversial enforcement across the country, including here in North Texas.

Since last spring, some migrants with active immigration cases have been picked up by ICE agents during routine check-ins at immigration court. Tactics like this have led critics to accuse the Trump administration of going beyond targeting the "worst of the worst."

Fewer arrestees are convicted criminals, data shows 

Less than 39% of those arrested in Texas by ICE from Jan.20 through Oct. 15 of last year were convicted criminals, according to ICE data published by the Deportation Data Project, compared to 60% during that same time frame the previous year. 

A Department of Homeland Security document recently obtained by CBS News shows that less than 14% of immigrants arrested by ICE last year had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses.

"I think the enforcement is definitely creating problems that shouldn't be there, especially with folks who are being picked up, who are on construction sites, who are in restaurants, who are driving to their jobs," said Juan Carlos Cerda, the Texas state director at the American Business Immigration Coalition. 

In his professional role, Cerda works with business leaders concerned about the economic impact of harsh immigration policies to advocate for immigration reform.

"I think there is still strong support for a secure border," Cerda said. "President Trump has done that. But I think that people also recognize that the system is broken and that this mass deportation is a consequence of that decades-long lack of effort to fix the problem."

In December of 2025, there were 10,000 Border Patrol encounters at our southern border, compared to 96,000 in December of 2024, and 300,000 the previous December.

"The best measure in terms of how well President Trump has conducted immigration enforcement would be the southern border numbers," said Ammon Blair, a senior fellow at the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation. "You're seeing a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional approach in terms of immigration enforcement that has never been done before."

Looking ahead, Blair said he believes there will be more collaboration between federal agencies and their local and statewide counterparts.

"You're going to see a lot less of what was happening in Minneapolis," Blair said, referring to the shooting deaths of two American citizens by federal immigration agents. "You're going to see a lot less of what's happening nationwide in terms of the streets of those cities. And I think you're going to see a lot more compliance."

Hunker said he expects the coming years of Mr. Trump's second term to include increased detention.

"There's more detention space coming online, and ICE is going to be incentivized to fill that detention space," Hunker said.