DALLAS — Migrants reporting for routine check-ins at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office in Dallas are increasingly being detained, according to immigration attorneys and advocates, a shift they say marks a departure from past practice.
On a recent morning, people waited quietly outside the ICE office for scheduled appointments. Among them was Dennis, who asked to be identified only by his first name. He said he drove a friend, a Cuban national, to a routine check-in — his third since arriving in the United States more than two years ago — but the appointment ended in detention.
Dennis said his friend worked at an airport, passed Transportation Security Administration screening daily, filed asylum and residency paperwork, and paid taxes. Despite arriving with documents in order, Dennis said, his friend was detained.
Attorneys say such outcomes have become more common in recent months.
“A routine check-in is no longer that,” said Dallas immigration attorney Oscar Escoto. “People have to prepare for enhanced questioning and possible detention.”
Escoto, a former employee of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, said he and other attorneys have seen an uptick in detentions at the Dallas ICE Field Office over recent weeks.
The change coincides with a broader increase in immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. Homeland Security officials have denied the existence of arrest quotas, but senior adviser Stephen Miller said publicly last year that the administration aimed for at least 3,000 ICE arrests per day nationwide.
Data compiled by the University of California, Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project show that ICE made approximately 138,000 arrests nationwide from the start of the administration through July 29, with nearly one-quarter occurring in Texas. A Texas Tribune analysis found daily arrests increased by about 30% in ICE regions covering Dallas and Houston.
Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, said the administration has expanded interior enforcement by increasing coordination with Border Patrol.
“ICE alone cannot reach the scale of arrests and removals the administration is seeking,” Ruiz Soto said. “The strategy relies on additional enforcement capacity.”
Advocates say enforcement tactics have also shifted. Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, a legal advisor for the League of United Latin American Citizens, said some clients have received late-night messages notifying them of next-day check-ins, leaving little time to consult an attorney.
“The turnaround time is so short that people don’t have the opportunity to understand their options,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said.
She said many migrants attend appointments unaware that detention is possible.
“Most of these people walk into that building not knowing they may not come out,” she said.
Despite the increase in detentions, Escoto said migrants can still prevail in immigration court.
“What has changed is the level of preparation required,” he said. “Attorneys and communities now have to respond to policies that are having a more immediate impact.”
