ICE Sweep Nets 1,328 Arrests Across DC, Virginia and Maryland in Two Weeks

Federal immigration agents arrested more than 1,300 people across Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland during a two-week enforcement surge that wrapped up this week, with the Department of Homeland Security saying nearly 400 of those detained had prior criminal convictions or pending charges. The operation, dubbed Operation Safe Community – Washington, D.C., ran from August 1 through mid-August and focused heavily on suburban counties outside the District rather than the capital itself.

DHS reported that 1,328 people were arrested in total, a figure confirmed by WJLA, which reported that the sweep covered Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland while nominally focusing on the District. Of those arrested, DHS said almost 400 had been convicted or charged with crimes in the United States, according to the agency's own accounting relayed by the station. That leaves roughly 70 percent of those detained facing strictly civil immigration violations rather than criminal charges, a proportion Fox News laid out plainly even as federal officials emphasized the criminal element of the operation.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin framed the sweep as a response to local sanctuary policies, saying such policies in Virginia and Maryland elevate the needs of illegal immigrants above Americans' safety, per WJLA's report. Mullin said ICE arrested sexual assailants, kidnappers, drunk drivers, robbers and gang members in the two states despite those local policies. Patricia Hyde, ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations acting assistant director, said ICE officers arrested and removed criminal alien offenders from American communities in the Washington, D.C. area, adding that officers are skilled at finding people who do not want to be located. The agency has said its aim is to make communities safer by removing criminal alien offenders.

Specific Cases Cited by Federal Officials

DHS pointed to several individual arrests to illustrate the operation's scope. Salvadoran national Eygner Wilfredo Huezo-Moran was apprehended in Chesterfield, Virginia by ICE and U.S. Marshals on an outstanding Richmond murder and firearm charge, according to the Department of Homeland Security. He was turned over to local Richmond authorities for criminal prosecution ahead of any federal deportation proceedings.

In Wicomico County, Maryland, ICE officers arrested Haitian national Actionel Pierre, citing a criminal record that included prior arrests for attempted murder, assault, and possession of a dangerous weapon with intent to injure, the department said. Pierre remains in ICE custody pending formal removal proceedings. DHS also said members of MS-13, the 18th Street gang and Tren de Aragua were among those arrested during the sweep, including MS-13 member German Mejia-Baires, arrested in Manassas, Virginia, who had prior convictions for driving while intoxicated and illegal re-entry along with pending charges for felony malicious wounding. Mejia-Baires remains in federal custody facing administrative deportation proceedings.

Sweep Hits Suburbs Harder Than the District

Although the operation carries Washington's name, it primarily played out in suburban Maryland and Virginia, prompting local school districts to issue advisories warning parents about heightened federal enforcement activity, according to the Washington Times. That geographic shift traces back to a December 2025 ruling by U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell, who found that wide-ranging warrantless civil immigration arrests inside Washington, D.C. likely violated federal law. Howell's ruling, reported by AP News and detailed in earlier Hoodline coverage of the regional dragnet, imposed strict documentation limits inside the District, pushing agents to concentrate enforcement in the surrounding suburbs instead.

That earlier reporting found that ICE arrested roughly 19,500 people across D.C., Maryland and Virginia between January 20, 2025 and March 10, 2026, with about 60 percent having no prior criminal record — compared with fewer than 3,800 total regional arrests during the final full year of the Biden administration. Data compiled by UC Berkeley's Deportation Data Project, cited in that reporting, showed non-criminal arrests drove much of that sharp increase.

Part of a Broader National Enforcement Push

Operation Safe Community – Washington, D.C. followed a nearly identical sweep in Georgia, Operation Safe Community – Atlanta, which produced 1,226 arrests between late July and early August, according to ICE. Hoodline previously reported on that Georgia operation in a story about 1,226 arrests tied to child cruelty cases, as well as a separate account of a Cartersville man detained at an Atlanta airport gate before a planned Las Vegas trip. Both regional operations shared similar two-week timelines and messaging under ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations division.

The regional sweeps are part of a larger national surge. Internal ICE data reported by CBS News showed federal agents took more than 46,000 people into custody nationwide in July 2026 alone, a new monthly record driven by increased operations at domestic airports, local check-in offices and targeted regional sweeps like the ones in Washington and Atlanta. Separately, the federal Laken Riley Act, enacted in January 2025 and named after a slain Georgia nursing student, mandates federal detention of undocumented immigrants charged with theft, burglary, shoplifting or assault on law enforcement prior to conviction. DHS says that law has resulted in more than 21,400 nationwide arrests in its first year.

For now, the Trump administration has said it intends to put American citizens first, according to WJLA's account of the operation. Local officials in Maryland and Virginia have not disputed the arrest totals, but the sharp gap between DHS's emphasis on violent offenders and the roughly 70 percent of detainees facing only civil immigration violations remains a central point of contention for immigrant communities and school officials now bracing for what comes next.