Immigration agents conducting street arrests across New York and New Jersey have overwhelmingly targeted people from Latin America, according to an investigation revealing a stark racial disparity in enforcement tactics during the early months of 2026.
More than 93% of immigrants arrested during street operations who filed legal challenges were from Latin American countries, even though Latinos comprise only 66% of the undocumented immigrant population in the region. The pattern emerged from a review of over 1,200 lawsuits filed by detainees in federal courts between October 2025 and March 2026.
The 430 street arrests identified during the five-month period clustered heavily in predominantly Latino neighborhoods. In New Jersey, agents converged on Passaic and Plainfield. On Long Island, they swept through Brentwood and Hempstead. Within New York City, Corona in Queens recorded the highest concentration of ICE street arrests of any neighborhood in the five boroughs.
These operations differ fundamentally from arrests at immigration facilities. Street enforcement unfolds in minutes on residential blocks, often catching people during ordinary errands: buying milk, walking dogs, taking out trash, picking up children from soccer. In some cases, detainees reported that agents admitted they stopped them because they resembled someone else on a warrant, then arrested them anyway.
Fear has gripped Latino communities. Residents share GPS locations with family members, day laborers avoid work sites, and some write emergency contact numbers on their arms in permanent marker. One detainee, Juan, recalled being arrested on Staten Island while watching dominoes with neighbors. After nearly two decades in the country and with two U.S. citizen children, he now moves through daily life consumed by anxiety.
"You could just be heading to the store and get arrested right around the corner," Juan told reporters in Spanish. "The truth is, I walk around in fear."
The arrests often turned violent. Agents deployed Tasers and smashed car windows. In one lawsuit filed in January, a detainee alleged officers shouted a racial slur, calling him a "fucking Mexican" during his apprehension. Many immigrants described being surrounded by multiple unmarked vehicles and swarmed by masked officers, leaving them convinced they were being kidnapped.
One case illustrates the enforcement pattern. Florencio was walking home to Corona after a day painting apartments in Manhattan when masked agents emerged from darkness. His wife and three children stood feet away, watching. His nine-year-old son recognized him first. Florencio bolted. Agents tackled him so hard his ankle twisted and his forehead scraped asphalt.
Inside an interrogation lot, ICE officials showed Florencio photos of a man they sought and told him the target was Ecuadorian. "I'm not Ecuadorian. I'm Guatemalan. I've been here for almost 13 years," Florencio pleaded in Spanish, according to court records. The agents' response, he said, was blunt: "It doesn't matter. You have to come with us because you're here without papers, too."
In ICE's official account, agents claimed Florencio had "the same build and likeness" as their intended target and that he voluntarily admitted crossing the border illegally. Florencio disputed this, saying he was already handcuffed when agents photographed him and questioned him. His version appears in court filings challenging the legality of his detention.
A pattern emerges across multiple arrests. In early February on Staten Island, agents hunting for a 25-year-old Mexican named Julio circled the same block repeatedly, detaining three other men from Central America and Mexico, each labeled in arrest reports as "a male who was believed to be the intended target." Two eventually decided to leave the country. A judge later ordered the third man's release.
The Department of Homeland Security denies racial profiling. "What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the US, NOT their skin color, race or ethnicity," the agency said in a statement, calling such allegations "disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE."
But immigration lawyers point to the constitutional problems. When agents surround someone with multiple vehicles and officers, lawyers argue, individuals are not free to leave, triggering legal seizure protections. "As soon as someone is not free to leave, that's a seizure, and there's no basis for the seizure in most of these cases," said Paige Austin of immigrant advocacy group Make the Road. "They're making assumptions based on appearance, what jobs they work and where they live. It's just pure racial profiling."
Federal judges have begun ruling against the government. One judge barred most ICE arrests at immigration courthouses in New York City, and others have criticized agency tactics as unconstitutional in written opinions. Yet street arrests remain largely invisible in public debate because they occur away from the courthouse steps where observers, photographers and elected officials gather.
Street arrests were rare in New York City before the Trump administration's second term. As operations accelerated in recent months, lawyers have filed a surge of habeas corpus petitions challenging detention legality. Immigration officials estimate that only about one in ten arrested immigrants file such petitions, suggesting the actual number of street arrests far exceeds the 430 documented cases.
Tom Homan, the White House border czar, has threatened to "flood the zone" with federal immigration officers in other Democratic-led cities. That prospect has intensified anxiety in New York area Latino neighborhoods already reeling from the current enforcement blitz.
Author James Rodriguez: "When 93% of street arrests target a single demographic group, no government statement about constitutional policing rings true."
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