Five months after President Donald Trump took office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is using different tactics to arrest people in Arizona.

Some of them had been employed during the first Trump administration. Others had not, such as the arrests of immigrants outside of Phoenix immigration courts moments after their deportation cases are dismissed at the request of Department of Homeland Security attorneys.

“We haven’t seen these types of arrests used as a consistent strategy,” said Noah Schramm, border policy strategist at the ACLU Arizona. “I can’t speak to whether this ever happened under prior administrations, but it certainly is novel as a coordinated and consistent strategy.”

Trump has made it clear he is not wavering on the issue, writing June 12 that former President Joe Biden's administration and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are to blame for allow unauthorized immigrants to flood into the United States, "destroying Schools, Hospitals and Communities, and consuming untold Billions of Dollars in Free Welfare."

Writing on Truth Social , Trump likened the situation to an "invasion." Trump also used the term "remigration," which is used by many on the far right.

"All of them have to go home, as do countless other Illegals and Criminals, who will turn us into a bankrupt Third World Nation," Trump wrote. "America was invaded and occupied. I am reversing the Invasion. It’s called Remigration. Our courageous ICE Officers, who are daily being subjected to doxxing and murder threats, are HEROES. We will always have their back as they carry out this noble mission. America will be for Americans again!"

What to know about ICE arrests in Arizona courtrooms

ICE's new tactics inside and outside immigration courtrooms emerged after immigration judges started granting requests from federal government attorneys to close immigrants' cases. Shortly afterward, those individuals were arrested outside the Phoenix Immigration Court and taken into ICE custody and subject to faster removal proceedings.

Officials can do that because, in January, Trump signed an executive order allowing deportations without a hearing for immigrants who have been in the United States for less than two years. The most affected are those who entered the United States through the use of a government phone app called CBP One .

"The thing that is new here is the coordination that’s required," Schramm said. "Otherwise, why else would there be immigration agents waiting outside of the courtroom on the day that a government attorney decides out of nowhere to advocate for the case to be dismissed?"

The Trump administration is using more aggressive enforcement tactics

The Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement in general, which has resulted in the wrongful arrests and detention of some U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.

That sort of operation also was seen under both the first Trump administration and that of President Joe Biden, but not in such a forceful manner, according to Schramm.

In April 2025, Border Patrol agents detained 19-year-old U.S. citizen Jose Hermosillo when he was driving from New Mexico to Tucson to visit family. He spent 10 days at Florence Correctional Center because he had improper "immigration documents," the Department of Homeland Security said.

U.S. Army veteran Marlon Parris , who renewed his green card in 2017, was arrested in Phoenix. He served five years in prison after pleading guilty in 2011 to a nonviolent federal drug conspiracy charge, and in May, a judge said he can be deported.

In June, a deputy U.S. marshal was detained in Tucson after matching the “general description” of a suspect sought by federal agents, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

In April, Arbella Rodriguez Marquez, a legal permanent resident, was arrested by ICE despite the fact that she didn’t have a criminal record, Arizona’s Family (KTVK-TV and KPHO-TV) reported.

"What concerns us now, more than in the past, is that this administration is using more aggressive enforcement tactics," Schramm said. "These are approaches we believe increase the risk of detaining U.S. citizens and green card holders simply because enforcement has become more reckless."

Executing warrants to arrest immigrants with criminal records at home

ICE is targeting immigrants at their homes.

One example is the February 2025 arrest of 61-year-old Alfonso Garcia Vega at his home in northwest Phoenix . ICE agents arrived with armored vehicles, flash-bang grenades, and multiple law enforcement officers, after Garcia’s son responded to them that his father wouldn’t leave the house until they showed a judicial warrant that allowed the detention.

In that case, ICE said the arrest was part of a routine operation, citing the man’s repeated illegal entries into the country and convictions for assault and weapons offenses.

“Based on what we’ve seen in the last months, part of the strategy of this administration is to create a spectacle with enforcement to try to scare people,” Schramm said. “You are driving people out of public space in a way that is deeply unfair, and I think in some cases unconstitutional.”

That type of arrest has happened in Arizona. Alonzo Zavala Barajas' father was detained by ICE in February when he was leaving his house in Gilbert. His son said that he was living undocumented for 23 years and didn’t have any criminal record, according to Arizona’s Family.

The same tactic was used in January to arrest an immigrant with a final order of removal in Maryvale. She was arrested in her apartment complex, according to Puente Arizona director Natally Cruz.

ICE enlists the help of local police departments through 287(g) agreements

In Arizona, more agreements between local law-enforcement agencies and ICE, popular in Trump’s first administration, have been signed to support the enforcement of mass deportation policy.

In March 2025, the Navajo and Yuma Sheriff's County Offices signed agreements with ICE, according to an ICE database. Both law-enforcement agencies joined another six in Arizona that previously signed the agreement.

"This means that supposedly ICE has trained officers in these eight law-enforcement agencies to ask certain questions about someone’s immigration status, and if certain information is revealed to communicate with ICE," Schramm said. “We’ve seen the sheriff in Pima County come out voicing opposition to the idea they should be forced to do immigration enforcement, and similar statements from Tucson Police Department."

Trump administration wants immigrants to register with the government

A new tactic not seen in first Trump’s administration is a rule that ordered undocumented immigrants to register their personal information with the federal government. To Schramm, that is an act that increases the risk of arrests for immigrants who have been living in the United States for many years and have committed no crimes.

“It’s a very insidious program that seems designed to force undocumented people who are living in this country into an impossible decision,” he said. “Where many will inevitably be labeled as criminals, even if they have nothing, but good intentions of living here.”

The Trump administration is making sweeping changes to the nation's immigration system . Don't miss a moment. Sign up for azcentral's American Border weekly newsletter .