The White House appeared to reject stopping immigration enforcement operations during Christmas, as requested by Florida's Catholic bishops.
Concretely, the document was sent by Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski and signed by seven other members of the conference, saying that "a climate of fear and anxiety is infecting not only the irregular migrant but also family members and neighbors who are legally in the country."
The letter also claims that the "border has been secured" and the "initial work of identifying and removing dangerous criminals has been accomplished to a great degree." Therefore, he added, "the maximum enforcement approach of treating irregular immigrants en masse means that now many of these arrest operations inevitably sweep up numbers of people who are not criminals but just here to work."
"Since these effects are part of enforcement operations, we request that the government pause apprehension and round-up activities during the Christmas season. Such a pause would show a decent regard for the humanity of these families," the letter noted.
White House Abigail Jackson seemed to dismiss the notion, saying in an email that "President Trump was elected based on his promise to the American people to deport criminal illegal aliens. And he's keeping that promise."
In fact, another report shows that the number of people held in U.S. immigration detention has reached a record level. As of Dec. 14, 2025, ICE was detaining more than 68,400 people nationwide, the highest figure ever recorded in the agency's biweekly data, according to an analysis by The Guardian.
The total surpasses a previous record set earlier this month. Based on ICE figures tracked by the newspaper, the administration has arrested more than 328,000 people and deported nearly 327,000 since January.
Despite repeated statements by the administration that enforcement efforts prioritize "the worst of the worst," immigrants with no criminal record continue to make up the largest share of those in detention, The Guardian noted. Being undocumented is a civil, not criminal, violation of U.S. law, and ICE data show that many detainees are held solely for immigration offenses such as unauthorized entry or overstaying a visa.
Government figures obtained through public records requests and reported by Axios in early December indicate that nearly 579,000 people have been arrested by the Department of Homeland Security since President Trump took office. Arrests accelerated after the administration raised internal daily arrest targets earlier this year.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said on Dec. 3 that the daily average had climbed to about 1,800 arrests in recent weeks, though DHS has not published comprehensive enforcement data for the period.
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