Immigration Enforcement in the Second Trump Administration: the story so far

Thursday 21 May 2026, 3.45pm
Zoom and The Mawby Room, Kellogg College

David Hausman (Assistant Professor of Law, UC Berkley Law)

The story of immigration enforcement in the first year of the second Trump administration is one of a drastic increase in interior immigration enforcement: enforcement that occurs within the United States, usually far from the border. ICE arrests quadrupled, including both street arrests and transfers from criminal custody to ICE immigration custody. ICE street arrests (i.e., arrests not at jails) increased by over 11 times. Street arrests at this scale are a new phenomenon. For both types of arrests, ICE was much less likely to target people with criminal convictions. These changes led to over a sevenfold increase in arrests of people without criminal convictions.

The quadrupling of arrests resulted in an even larger rise in deportations because of increased detention space and decreased releases.

In this talk, Dr David Hausman, Assistant Professor of Law, UC Berkley Law, discusses what has happened and how.

Zoom registration link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/C90q4f2mQb62aVmudsB3Zw

COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity Term 2026

Theme: ‘Immigration Enforcement in Practice’

Convened by Rob McNeil, Deputy Director, Migration Observatory.

These seminars will take place at 3.45pm on Thursdays of Weeks 2, 3, 4 and 7. Weeks 2, 4 and 7 are in the Mawby Room at Kellogg College; Week 3  is in the Investcorp Lecture Theatre, St Antony's College. All are hybrid with individual Zoom registration links (except Week 3). No registration is required to attend in person (except Week 3).

Migration scholars and activists are often highly critical of border regimes and enforcement practices, while political parties and governments often feel the need to make bold promises of “smashing gangs”, stopping unauthorised border crossings or enacting deterrent policies.

Media reports and policymakers commonly centre these discussions on either abstract political and legal debates or emotive humanitarian stories.

Those charged with enforcing immigration policies or scrutinising their actions face a challenging task in upholding domestic political decisions and international law.

This seminar series aims to explore the process of immigration enforcement from the point of view of those charged with enacting it in the UK and the EU, while also looking at the radical shifts that have occurred in immigration enforcement practices in the USA in the first year of the second Trump administration.

Attendance is free. To join online, registration is essential.