ICE Arrests 32 In Arlington, Falls Church Enforcement Raids

ARLINGTON, VA — FBI agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers took 32 people into custody in Arlington and Falls Church on Tuesday morning, according to a social media post by FBI Director Kash Patel.

Three of those arrested were identified as members of the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs, officials said.

The FBI Task Force was created to “combat violent crime” and pursue individuals in the country illegally, according to Patel's post.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Krisi Noem accompanied the task force, along with officers from ICE and DHS.

“Northern Virginia is safer after yesterday’s successful operation getting criminal aliens and gang members off our streets,” Noem said, in a March 5 post on X.

ICE — particularly, its Enforcement and Removal Operations arm — is the key agency tasked with carrying out President Trump’s pledge of mass deportations of people in the country illegally during his second term, according to the Associated Press.

The sweep appeared to have taken place in Arlington and Fairfax counties early Monday and Tuesday, The Washington Post reported.

“We’ve heard the fear in our community — this uncertainty and the trauma it’s causing,” Beatriz Batres, an organizer with La ColectiVA, said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference, the Post reported. “They’re knocking on their doors, knocking down their doors and stopping their family members.”

Gov. Glenn Youngkin recently ordered state police and prison staffs to cooperate with ICE agents.

March 6, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) – Rep. Beyer today issued the following statement on ICE activities in Northern Virginia this week:

“We must be able to enforce the law and protect the public without creating a climate of fear. This week’s ICE enforcement activities in Northern Virginia were designed to instill fear and generate photo ops for Secretary Noem, not to make us safer.

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Virginia), who represents Arlington and Alexandria, issued a statement Thursday, expressing his concerns about the "chilling effect" the raids were having on the community, especially among children.

“I have always opposed and condemned family separation, but there is also great harm done when families are afraid to send their children to school or to seek basic medical care at a clinic or hospital because they fear these locations will be targets of ICE raids," he said. "I worked with colleagues to draft and introduce the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act to restore a sense of safety in these vital public spaces, and this legislation is extremely important to our community.

“I will keep meeting with organizations working to support and defend immigrant communities who are an essential to the National Capital Region, and I urge Northern Virginians to review and remind their neighbors of their constitutional rights.”

During a seven-day day period in early February when ICE released daily data, the agency averaged 787 arrests a day, compared to a daily average of 311 during a 12-month period that ended Sept. 30 during former President Joe Biden’s administration, AP reported.

“Immigration enforcement raids and other enforcement activities in the last month have targeted all immigrant communities, disproportionately those of color,” said Tanya Greene, U.S. program director for Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit that reports on abuses happening worldwide.

“Enforcement has targeted immigrants regardless of how long they have been in the United States and without considering their contributions to their communities, as well as people in the process of an immigration proceeding, where a judge decides if they can stay in the US, he said. “As a result, there are communities in which many people are terrified and some avoid going to church or the hospital, and many children don’t go to school.

As an example, ICE is deporting Iranian families with children to Panama, according to Greene. U.S. has an agreement to pay Panama to deport the families to Iran.

“A country cannot lawfully send Iranian asylum seekers to Panama without hearing their claims and just be done with it — sending them back to a country to face persecution violates international refugee law,” she said. “The administration is also preparing to deport unaccompanied immigrant children — not just cruel and terrifyingly dangerous, but a human rights violation.”

Patch submitted a Freedom of information Act request with ICE and DHS on Wednesday, seeking information about the identity of those people who were arrested, including any charges made against them and their current custody status. No response has been received.

The Associated Press contributed to the reporting of this story.