Investigation: Over 93% of ICE Street Arrests in NYC Area Targeted Latino Individuals

An investigation by The City analyzed 430 documented Immigration and Customs Enforcement street arrests in the New York metropolitan area and found that more than 93% of those arrested were Latino. The data was compiled from court records, arrest logs, and community reports. The findings suggest a pattern in which ICE officers' street-level enforcement operations are heavily concentrated on Latino communities, despite the region's undocumented population including significant Black and Asian immigrant communities that are dramatically underrepresented in the arrest data. Immigration advocates and civil rights attorneys said the findings confirm longstanding suspicions of racial profiling — using race or ethnicity as a proxy for immigration status, a practice civil libertarians argue is unconstitutional. Lawmakers including Mayor Mamdani and several City Council members cited the investigation as evidence supporting continued sanctuary city policies and pointed to it when calling for federal oversight of ICE operations. ICE has previously denied engaging in racial profiling and did not immediately respond to the investigation's findings.