U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested about 51,000 immigrants in July — the highest monthly total recorded during the Trump administration, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The figure is up from 43,000 in June, yet it still falls short of the White House's announced goal of 2,000 arrests per day.

The record reflects new enforcement tactics: federal agents are now targeting passengers with expired visas at airports, setting up checkpoints in public recreation areas, and conducting roadside truck inspections alongside state highway patrol officers.

What is driving the surge?

DHS reported that agents arrested an average of 20 to 40 people per day at airports in July, focusing on passengers with expired visas. Those detained included a Cameroonian researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore — a Fulbright scholar and expert in disease outbreaks — and a University of Maryland instructor from Ethiopia who was detained as he returned from a conference where he accepted a Teacher of the Year award.

Michael Clemens, an economics professor at Johns Hopkins, said federal authorities "see airports as an easy bottleneck because everyone in there is ID'd, so it's lower cost to seize people there than in any other place except a prison."

Immigration advocates have advised visa holders with expired documents not to travel without consulting an attorney.

Who is being arrested?

Many of the new arrests catch non-criminals in a legal "gray area," such as people with an expired visa who are applying for another legal status, said Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, an associate policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

"The focus is so much on the arrest numbers that the mission seems a little confused to the general public," Putzel-Kavanaugh said. "Meeting some arbitrary arrest quota doesn't necessarily serve this larger purpose of deporting a larger number of people, so there's a disconnect about what the mission really is."

Statistics reviewed by Stateline through early July show that less than a third of current detainees have a criminal conviction, while 40% have never been accused of anything beyond non-criminal immigration violations.

Kate Angustia, supervisory policy and practice counsel at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, called it a "misconception" that those arrested at airports forfeited their legal status. "Many of these folks are in a lawful period of authorized stay," she said, noting that policy for decades has allowed such people to remain while the government processed their cases.

DHS said in a statement that "this administration is working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport."

What new locations are being used?

On July 26, immigration agents set up a checkpoint near Wilson Creek in North Carolina, a National Forest site managed by the U.S. Forest Service that is popular with Hispanic residents. Federal agents arrested 13 people, according to the local sheriff's office.

Relatives and Methodist clergy protested, saying at least some of those arrested had no criminal record and entered the country legally. Republican North Carolina Assembly Speaker Destin Hall had called those arrested "a gang of previously arrested illegal aliens" in a social media post.

The Sierra Club also objected, writing that "bringing immigration enforcement into public recreation areas undermines the sense of safety and belonging that these spaces provide."

At the end of July, federal agents and state highway patrol officers conducted roadside truck checks in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio. DHS said the operation, aimed at "illegal, unvetted drivers and unsafe vehicles," detained 51 drivers who were in the country illegally.

What happens next?

Arrests based on expired visas are likely to accelerate in September, when a new rule takes effect that sets stricter time limits on visas for students, exchange visitors and foreign media. Clemens has estimated that by limiting the number of international STEM students, instructors and researchers in the U.S., the rule could cost the economy as much as $145 billion per year by 2035.

"Implementation of the rule will cause large numbers of highly-skilled students and scholars to fall out of status," Clemens said.

About 2,000 detainees a month have been freed after court-ordered bond hearings, as many federal judges — some of them Trump appointees — have ruled against the administration's mandatory detention policy. The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to rule on the policy's legality in its October term.

July also saw two immigrants shot and killed during traffic stops in Texas and Maine. After a brief pause, President Donald Trump ordered such stops to continue, and ICE officers will now wear body cameras when pulling over drivers, according to border czar Tom Homan. In a separate incident in St. Augustine, Florida, a Mexican man with a valid tourist visa died after he was struck by a truck while fleeing ICE officers.

A Zambian asylum seeker working as a registered nurse at a Portland, Maine, hospital was released Thursday after her arrest at Boston Logan International Airport sparked protests. "Nurses in Maine found out one of their own was locked up and sprung into action to get her out," said Puneet Maharaj, a local nurse union representative.

The administration did not release state-specific arrest figures. Read the complete rules and enforcement updates on the official ICE and DHS websites.