The Dallas Express has obtained new worksite enforcement data from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) showing that federal immigration authorities in Dallas are prioritizing administrative arrests over criminal prosecutions.
The data covers President Donald Trump’s first six months in office, from January 20 to June 30, 2025, and reveals a sharp focus on civil detentions rather than criminal actions.
According to HSI, there were 14 criminal arrests, six indictments, four convictions, and 102 administrative arrests in worksite enforcement operations in Dallas County during that period. Administrative arrests accounted for roughly 83% of all enforcement actions.
“An administrative arrest is the arrest of an alien for a civil violation of the immigration laws, which is subsequently adjudicated by an immigration judge or through other administrative processes,” the ICE Removal Statistics website explains.
In one 2019 operation in Allen, Texas, HSI executed criminal search warrants at a telecommunications equipment-repair company and its staffing firms, resulting in the administrative arrest of more than 280 employees working unlawfully in the United States, according to the ICE website.
HSI is not the only entity under the DHS umbrella to conduct administrative arrests.
“In FY2017, ICE ERO conducted 143,470 overall administrative arrests, which is the highest number of administrative arrests over the past three fiscal years. Of these arrests, 92 percent had a criminal conviction, a pending criminal charge, were an ICE fugitive or were processed with a reinstated final order,” a FY 2017 ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations report states.
Homeland Security Investigations has been part of numerous enforcement efforts against employers in Dallas.
In June, HSI had been involved in enforcement actions against several individuals and The Law Offices of D. Robert Jones PLLC and Reliable Ventures, Inc. on counts including conspiracy to defraud the United States, visa fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, DX reported.
This enforcement action comes during a tense time in the City of Dallas.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Dallas field office reportedly announced several arrests in mid-August while Democratic lawmakers questioned the city’s relationship with federal immigration officials under a 30-year-old cooperation agreement known as 287(g).
In nearby Arlington on August 26, USCIS held a hiring surge event, with officials claiming 1,200 attendees, while a small group of protesters demonstrated outside, DX reported.