Buffalo has emerged as a center of intensified immigration enforcement in upstate New York, with ICE arrests on pace to rise nearly 69% from last year and most of those arrested having no criminal record, according to an Investigative Post analysis of federal data.
ICE has made 515 arrests in Buffalo this year through Aug. 5, compared with nearly 350 in Rochester and almost 200 in Syracuse. Across 48 upstate counties, more than 2,900 immigrants have been arrested this year, with more than half of the arrests occurring between May and early August.
Three-quarters of those arrested had no criminal record, while half had active immigration cases, the Investigative Post reports.
Since President Donald Trump returned to office, ICE has made 1,127 arrests in Buffalo, 89% involving people without criminal records, according to the analysis. Nearly three-quarters of those arrested across upstate during that period had no criminal record.
"These are people who are just swept up cold from their work site or their commute or wherever," David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, told the news site.
The surge comes as the Trump administration expands enforcement in New York. The Department of Homeland Security said this week that Operation Rotten Apple resulted in 2,197 arrests statewide between July 27 and Aug. 29.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, through a statement, that the operation targeted "murderers, rapists, pedophiles, drug traffickers, and violent assailants" and blamed state and local policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Available data covering 10 days of that operation showed 239 arrests across upstate New York, including 44 in Buffalo, Investigative Post reported.
The outlet also found that some people highlighted by ICE for serious criminal records were already serving prison sentences when federal authorities took custody of them for deportation.
Among those arrested in Buffalo was Keiber Alexander Esposito Martinez, a Venezuelan chef with no criminal record and an active asylum application. He was detained while traveling to work in June and is challenging his detention in federal court.
"They are just expanding their operations in terms of the number of people available," Bier said. "The number of agents plus [more] detention beds, is going to explain a lot of what we're seeing."
