(WASHINGTON) -- Immigration officials have quietly ramped up arrests in the recent days, taking 10,000 people who they say are illegally in the United States into custody within a five-day space, sources familiar with the figures said Thursday.
The source said the significant number of arrests have occurred around the United States since last week.
The new goal for immigration authorities is to arrest at least 2,000 per day going forward, according to sources. Last year, in a meeting with senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, White House and senior Department of Homeland Security officials urged a goal of 3,000 arrests per day, a source familiar told ABC News.
"Since Day One, DHS law enforcement has been delivering on President Trump’s promise to the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.
During the immigration crackdown, President Donald Trump has pledged to target the "worst of the worst" criminal offenders among the nation's migrants. While the criminal histories of those arrested in this latest sweep is not yet clear, the DHS spokesperson said that "nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S."
The recent arrests have been carried out with little publicity, according to sources, after DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin pledged during his confirmation hearing earlier this year to keep the agency out of the headlines and do the work quietly. That is in contrast to former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who wanted maximum publicity for ICE enforcement.
ICE has a new pick to lead the agency, Lance Schroyer, a top Mullin ally and former Oklahoma state trooper who has no federal immigration experience.
The New York Times first reported the details.
Mike Howell, who serves as the president of the Trump-aligned Oversight Project and a leader of the Mass Deportation Coalition, applauded the arrests numbers, but said there should "transparency and meaningful metrics on deportation-related statistics," which are not publicly available.
"There have been so many numbers thrown around in press releases, estimates, extrapolations, and puffery that most people are just kind of immune to it and waiting to see the hard data that's being withheld," Howell said.
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