Immigration officials arrested 4,170 illegal immigrants across Texas during a 10-day operation this month.

Illegal immigrants allegedly linked to sexual assaults, murders, and immigrant smuggling activities were among those arrested, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in an Oct. 29 statement.

One of the arrested individuals is an illegal immigrant from Mexico who had earlier been apprehended for alleged murder and was previously deported twice from the United States.

Another Mexican illegal immigrant has convictions for sexual assault and illegal reentry into America. An illegal immigrant from Honduras is wanted in his home nation for the alleged killing of a local person.

The Lone Star Mission, carried out between Oct. 19 and 29, was a coordinated, Texas-wide enforcement effort led by five Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field offices.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the operation shows how important state and local partnerships are for protecting American communities.

“Thanks to Texas law enforcement and our federal partners, over the course of this operation, we arrested murderers, sexual assailants, drunk drivers, and alien smugglers,” he said.

An earlier three-day operation conducted in September in southeastern Massachusetts led to the arrests of 82 illegal immigrants, officials said in an Oct. 19 statement.

Many of these individuals had criminal histories, including indecent assault, possession of child sexual abuse material, battery on a child under 14 years of age, and extortion by threat of injury. Several apprehended individuals were, according to the agency, previously released from jail by sanctuary jurisdictions that had refused to honor detainers.

In July, the Trump administration faced a setback in its crackdown on illegal immigrants, with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that three such individuals who have lived in the country for more than a decade cannot be held for more than 90 days in immigration detention without a bond hearing.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection tethered Aerostat surveillance blimp awaits flight near Marfa, Texas, on April 8, 2026. (John Moore/Getty Images)

The court majority observed that the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment protects illegal immigrants who have been long-term residents of the United States. It held that the prolonged detention of the three individuals without a hearing to determine whether they pose a safety or flight risk violated the Constitution.

On Oct. 23, the same appeals court sided with the Trump administration. The July ruling was issued by a panel of three judges. The October ruling came from the full Fifth Circuit, which vacated the July decision as it considered the case.

“Controlling illegal immigration is, no doubt, an important and controversial issue of public policy. But the Constitution entrusts broad authority to delineate immigration policy, and to design proceedings to effectuate those policy choices, to Congress—not court,” the majority of the court said. “Neither we nor the district courts are free to ignore that bedrock principle and rewrite the immigration policy Congress has enacted.”

2.2 Million Illegal Immigrants

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has carried out enforcement actions to terminate or revoke the status of roughly 2.2 million illegal immigrants in the country under the second Trump administration, DHS said in an Oct. 29 statement.

Enforcement actions taken include ending the misuse of temporary protected status by immigrants, terminating certain parole programs, ending the automatic extension of employment authorization documents for immigrants, and denying applications to change or extend nonimmigrant status when there is no legal basis for such updates, according to DHS.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin testifies in Washington on June 3, 2026. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)

USCIS is also strengthening screening and vetting processes for immigrants and preventing the exploitation of immigrant benefits, DHS added.

“Those who abuse or flagrantly disregard our immigration system are now on notice that these violations of law will not be tolerated or overlooked,” Mullin said. “Securing our border was only the beginning. We are restoring integrity to the entire immigration system and putting the safety of our American citizens first.”