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After President Donald Trump was sworn in on January 20, 2025, he signed a slew of executive orders including one that facilitates easy arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants in the US.
Since then, the Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) of the US have been vigorously arresting immigrants. The activities of the ICE have generated enormous commentaries on social media with many speculating the number of Ghanaians who may have been arrested so far.
In a post on X, on January 26, 2025, Broadcast journalist Serwaah Amihere shared a graph that suggested that 6,200 Ghanaian immigrants are on Trump’s deportation list. The graph was also shared by other social media handles including @gen_buhari_ .
Hours later, Serwaah Amihere shared another graph suggesting that its rather 3,228 Ghanaians who have been ordered to be removed by the ICE. This was after some users challenged her earlier data.
However, none of the graphs being shared across social media relate to the work of the ICE following President Trump’s executive order.
The work of the ICE
The US Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with enforcing immigration law to preserve national security and public safety. The agency has been working across different regimes since 2002 when it was formed.
The ICE periodically produces reports that present data on the number of illegal immigrants removed from the US among other details on their work. It also has an interactive dashboard that showcases updated data and statistics on its work.
The data Serwaa Amihere shared on X relates to the ICE’s data on immigrants who are not detained but are being given final orders for removal as of November 2024. The data, thus, has nothing to do with Trump who was only sworn into office last week.
How many immigrants have so far been arrested?
According to Fox News, the “raid” by the ICE following Trump’s executive order resulted in nearly 1,000 arrests over the weekend. Previous reports suggest an daily average of 500+ arrests of illegal immigrants.
However, there has been no official report presenting a breakdown of the arrests according to nationality. Therefore, claims suggesting that 6,200 or 3,228 Ghanaians have been arrested are false.
