Texas ICE sweep made 4,170 arrests in 10 days; DHS says 40% had no criminal record

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin came to Dallas on Thursday to announce that a 10-day federal immigration operation across Texas had arrested 4,170 people. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which runs Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), calls the operation "Lone Star Mission." It ran from Oct. 19 to Oct. 29 ¹².

That works out to more than 400 arrests a day, according to DHS ³. Of the total, 879 arrests took place in North Texas. Federal immigration officers worked with Texas sheriff's offices and police departments ¹.

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Mullin said more than 60% of the people arrested had criminal backgrounds. About 40% had no criminal record ¹. He called that group "collateral" arrests ². NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth reported that he described them as people who were not necessarily the targets but were present when a warrant was served ¹.

They should have never been on our streets. We were able to make the Lone Star State safer.

What DHS did not say

DHS did not break down the criminal histories it cited. It also did not say how many of the people arrested had been convicted of violent crimes, according to The Texas Newsroom, a public radio collaboration ². The department did not release a full list of the people arrested ³.

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The Spanish-language outlet Mundo Now pointed to another gap. DHS did not report how many of the 4,170 had criminal convictions or pending charges, or how many were arrested only for immigration violations ⁵. The outlet noted that an arrest is not a deportation, and that breaking immigration law does not by itself mean a criminal conviction ⁵.

That matters because "criminal background" can mean a lot of things. Mullin named some serious crimes, including murder, sexual assault, drunken driving and immigrant smuggling ¹. But he also made clear that the type of offense was not the point. Speaking of the people arrested, he said:

They should never be in this country to begin with, regardless if it's a violent crime or it's petty theft

Mundo Now cited a University of Colorado Boulder study published in July. It found that only 34% of the people ICE arrested in the first 14 months of the Trump administration had a criminal conviction ⁵.

A campaign-season announcement

Mullin made the announcement five days before the Nov. 3 midterm election ⁵. Much of his news conference was spent attacking so-called "sanctuary" cities and counties, places that limit local help to federal immigration agents, and comparing President Trump's policies with President Biden's ². The Texas Newsroom reported that Mullin blamed Biden-era policies for crime without offering evidence to back that up ².

His visit came as Trump and Vice President JD Vance campaigned in Texas. Republicans there face unusually close statewide races, including the U.S. Senate contest between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico ².

Mullin also put up bigger numbers. He said ICE's enforcement officers in Texas took more than 136,000 people into custody from October 2025 through Sept. 30, 2026 ¹. He said targeted enforcement will go on, within the resources officers have ¹.

Shootings and a car strike under scrutiny

The operation comes as federal immigration officers in Texas face questions about several recent uses of force ². In early July, ICE officers in Houston shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican man, as he was on his way to work at a construction site ².

In late September, ICE officers in north Austin shot and wounded Wilber Garcés Pérez, a Venezuelan man who drives for DoorDash ². About 10 days later, an ICE agent driving an unmarked car in Houston hit Miguel Parra Hernandez, a Mexican man ². In each case, federal authorities said officers were responding to threats or to people trying to get away. Witnesses, lawyers or local officials have disputed those accounts ².

Garcés Pérez was shot on Sept. 20 while making a food delivery, CBS Austin reported ⁴. Federal prosecutors accuse him of driving away from a traffic stop, hitting an officer with his side mirror and then trying to hit the officer with his car. They say that is why the officer fired ⁴. There is no body camera footage of the shooting ⁴.

He is charged with assaulting a federal officer and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He pleaded not guilty on Oct. 27 ⁴. His lawyer says he entered the country legally under the Biden administration and applied for asylum. The lawyer says a deportation order was issued after he missed a court hearing because the notice went to the wrong address ⁴.

Rep. Greg Casar, a Democrat who represents part of Austin, has said federal agents should share their evidence with local law enforcement ⁴. He also said:

ICE should not be here in our communities. We should not have masked rogue agents shooting people.

Local police with federal powers

Operations like this one lean more and more on local officers. Under a 1996 provision of federal immigration law known as Section 287(g), ICE can hand certain immigration powers to state and local police, who then work under ICE's direction ⁶. As of Oct. 29, ICE's website listed 2,725 of these agreements in 38 states and two U.S. territories ⁶.

The pattern is clear. Texas's arrest total is being presented as a win for public safety right before an election. But the government has not shown how many of those 4,170 people were ever convicted of a crime. Casar warned that the damage reaches well beyond people in the country illegally:

This does not threaten only immigrants, but naturalized citizens, green card holders

The Record

1. Sep 20, 2026An ICE officer shoots and wounds food delivery driver Wilber Garcés Pérez in North Austin ⁴
2. Oct 19, 2026DHS's 10-day "Lone Star Mission" immigration operation begins across Texas ²
3. Oct 27, 2026Garcés Pérez pleads not guilty to a federal charge of assaulting an officer ⁴
4. Oct 29, 2026Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announces 4,170 arrests in Dallas and says about 40% had no criminal record ¹²

Sources

1. NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, “Texas immigration crackdown led to over 4,000 arrests, DHS says” (2026-10-29). nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-immigration-crackdown-ice-operat
2. Texas Public Radio / The Texas Newsroom, “The Trump administration touts immigration enforcement push in Texas as Election Day nears” (2026-10-29). tpr.org/government-politics/2026-10-29/the-trump-administrat
3. KOMO News / The National News Desk, “Nearly 4,200 illegal immigrants arrested during 'Lone Star Mission' in Texas: DHS” (2026-10-29). komonews.com/news/nation-world/nearly-4200-illegal-immigrant
4. CBS Austin, “DHS to announce Texas ICE mission results; man shot by ICE in Austin pleads not guilty” (2026-10-29). cbsaustin.com/news/local/dhs-to-announce-texas-ice-mission-r
5. Mundo Now, “ICE detiene a 4,170 migrantes en Texas, pero hay una cifra que el Gobierno de Trump no revela” (2026-10-29). mundonow.com/operativo-ice-texas-detenidos
6. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “Delegation of Immigration Authority Section 287(g) Immigration and Nationality Act” (2026-10-29). ice.gov/identify-and-arrest/287g

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