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What the Data Shows About Trump's Immigration Policies and Deportations So Far

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What the Data Shows About Trump's Immigration Policies and Deportations So Far

President Trump’s drastic reshaping of immigration enforcement toward a goal of deporting millions has led to nearly 23,000 arrests and 18,000 deportations in the past month, federal data shows.

Arrests inside the country are up sharply relative to the Biden administration, but they are below the levels seen when immigration agents made a show of force at the start of Mr. Trump’s term.

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Deportations have continued to lag. As a result, 4,000 more people are sitting in detention facilities than when Mr. Trump first took office. An additional 3,000 people who were detained have been released back into the country.

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ICE is arresting and detaining more people

Daily average of new detentions in which ICE was the arresting authority

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Note: Figures are for book-ins to ICE detention in which ICE was the arresting agency. Some arrests do not lead to detention as the person may be released or immediately deported.

Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

The administration began its increased enforcement operations shortly after Mr. Trump was inaugurated, and ICE was quick to publicize the number of immigrants caught in its operations each day. People booked into detention by ICE — a rough measure of arrests — peaked at 872 people per day in late January before falling to just under 600 people per day in the first three weeks of February, data shows.

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This is a significant escalation from the Biden administration: ICE arrested and detained about 255 people each day last year. It also reveals the extent of a shift in immigration priorities under Mr. Trump to increase enforcement in the interior of the country.

Deportations have not kept pace with arrests. ICE deported an average of 600 people a day in mid-February, the latest data available, compared with more than 750 people a day in the 12 months through November.

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ICE is deporting fewer people than last year

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The drop in deportations is due in part to a simultaneous change in border policy. During the Biden administration, a majority of people detained and deported were arrested crossing the southwestern border. But the Trump administration moved to quickly close the border, ending the asylum process and other Biden-era programs that offered migrants humanitarian relief.

Now, border agents are arresting far fewer people than last year and sending fewer migrants to ICE for detention and eventual deportation. (It is not clear how many people are being removed directly from the border, since that data has not been published since Mr. Trump took office.)

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More people are being held in ICE detention

Total detained population by arresting authority

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Even though arrests at the border are down, the aggressive push to detain immigrants elsewhere in the country has filled detention facilities above the capacity Congress set for funding. The total number of people in ICE detention has grown by more than 4,000 in the last month, to nearly 44,000.

At the same time, far fewer immigrants are being paroled or released than in the first few weeks of the Trump administration and during the Biden administration.

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Releases from ICE detention have dropped in recent weeks

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Note: Figures are for book-outs from ICE detention in which the detainee was granted bond and released, either by ICE or an immigration judge, or released after making a promise to meet certain conditions.

Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement

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Under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., many people who were not considered a threat to the community or a flight risk were allowed to leave detention under certain conditions, but this practice has nearly ended. ICE stopped granting parole to detainees almost entirely in late February. A small number are still being released from detention after paying a bond or promising to meet certain conditions.

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A growing share of people detained by ICE have no criminal record

The administration has said its strategy is focused on detaining and deporting criminals, and a majority of those in detention have been convicted of a crime. But data shows the share of people detained with no criminal charges has grown to 16 percent from 6 percent in mid-January.

Some members of the administration, including Tom Homan, the ICE director, have expressed frustration that the enforcement numbers are not higher as they seek to deliver on one of Mr. Trump’s signature promises.

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At the current pace, the administration does not appear on track to detain and deport millions of people this year, but the numbers could still rise quickly. Republicans in Congress have proposed billions in new funding for ICE and other agencies, and Mr. Trump has moved to expand the military’s role in immigration enforcement.

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

Donald Trump has terminated the remaining members of the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide just a few months before the midterm elections, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission ⁠were forced out on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other ⁠two, Democratic appointees were notified of their terminations via email from ​the White House presidential personnel office.

“On ‌behalf of President ‌Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position ‌as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email, seen by Reuters, said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearinghouse of information on election ‌administration”, accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail-voter registration form developed by the National ​Voter Registration Act of 1993, according to the commission’s website. The terminations follow Trump and top administration officials’ advocacy to change vote-by-mail requirements and investigations into the 2020 election outcome, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

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“It is ⁠irresponsible and dangerous that this Administration remains dead set on ​causing chaos for ​our election officials across this ​country,” Arizona secretary of state Adrian Fontes said in a ​Thursday statement. “This ‌move undermines the integrity ​of nonpartisan ​election administration.”

The 2002 law that established the commission, the Help America Vote Act, states the president can appoint replacements to the commission.

It is unclear how Trump will move ahead with the commission.

Reuters contributed reporting

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn (left) walks with his attorney Norman Eisen to speak to reporters and protesters gathered after his arraignment at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

Finn Gomez/Getty Images


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Finn Gomez/Getty Images

Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty to damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in D.C. Superior Court Thursday morning.

Federal prosecutors charged Hearn with a single count of destruction of property causing more than $1,000 in damage to the pool.

Hearn has previously claimed, which his attorneys repeated during a short press conference outside the court, that he simply touched the water in the pool out of curiosity.

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The Trump administration had just completed a $14 million renovation of the pool.

But shortly after the work finished, peeling paint and algae gathered in the water. The remodel has been largely criticized as a massive failure and waste of taxpayer dollars.

Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean released Hearn on his own recognizance. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Norm Eisen, one of Hearn’s attorneys, spoke to reporters outside of court following the hearing. He said the administration is using Hearn as a “scapegoat … for their own failures.”

“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” he said.

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Prosecutors say there is a host of evidence against Hearn.

This is a developing story.

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.

One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.

The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.

All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.

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Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.

One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”

The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.

Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.

If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.

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The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.

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