Mexican migrant families accounted for the highest number of detentions by U.S. security forces throughout 2025, amidst the harsh immigration policies championed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump—policies that have drawn criticism from human rights organizations.
Mexicans thus represent the highest figure, ahead of Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans, according to data compiled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The agency’s report indicates that during that year, 39,034 Mexican families were arrested, while those originating from Venezuela totaled 27,953; those from Honduras, 13,209; and those from Guatemala, 9,643. During this same period, Mexicans remained the primary national group detained in the United States, accounting for a significantly higher proportion of encounters recorded by border authorities.
Human Rights Watch has stated that the U.S. government is conducting a nationwide campaign of raids and detentions to “drive a policy of mass deportations that separates families and sows fear in entire communities.”
“This campaign began—in its most aggressive form—in Los Angeles last summer, laying the groundwork for similar tactics to be applied in other U.S. cities; it relies heavily on detaining individuals based on their perceived race, ethnicity, or national origin,” the organization warned.
Since then, it noted, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—the agency tasked with carrying out deportations—have been “tracking down and detaining individuals suspected of lacking authorization to remain in the country, separating families, and deepening the climate of fear within migrant communities,” it added. “These raids, directed largely against Latino communities, have caused devastating harm to the population of Los Angeles and have spread to other cities across the country,” stated John Raphling, Deputy Director of the NGO’s U.S. Program. “They destroy families, force people to live in fear, and expose the harshness of the Trump administration’s immigration policies,” he lamented.
