A two-week federal immigration enforcement operation across Maryland and Virginia resulted in 1,328 arrests between Aug. 1 and Aug. 14, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — a figure Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says paints a different picture than DHS’s public framing suggests.
The operation, called “Operation Safe Community – Washington, D.C.,” focused largely on the Washington, D.C. suburbs of both states but included enforcement actions statewide, according to ICE. The agency said the operation followed a similar effort in Atlanta in July that resulted in more than 1,200 arrests in Georgia.
ICE said almost 400 of those arrested — commonly described as roughly one-third — had either been convicted of or charged with crimes in the U.S., citing offenses including murder, attempted murder, rape, kidnapping, domestic violence and drug trafficking among the broader group’s criminal histories. The agency also said arrests included alleged members of transnational gangs MS-13, 18th Street and Tren de Aragua. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Acting Assistant Director Patricia Hyde said the operation reflected the agency’s daily work “removing these criminal alien offenders from Virginia and Maryland neighborhoods.” DHS has not released a complete, individual-level breakdown of all 1,328 arrests.
ICE and DHS officials also criticized what they characterized as sanctuary policies in Virginia and Maryland, arguing such policies force officers to make arrests in public rather than in jail settings. Maryland’s relevant law, the Community Trust Act, passed the General Assembly in April and was signed by Moore in May; it bars state and local correctional and law enforcement employees from cooperating with ICE enforcement.
In his response, Moore said he supports federal action against violent offenders but raised concerns about the operation’s scope. “ICE’s own numbers tell a very different story,” Moore said, arguing the same roughly 400-person figure represented only a fraction of the total arrested. He said his office had reviewed footage showing older women being taken from apartment buildings, workers being pursued through residential neighborhoods, and parents separated from children, and said state officials were “deeply concerned” by reports that one person suffered a broken neck during an arrest — a report that has not been independently verified by news outlets that covered it. Moore also said Maryland officials were not notified of the operation in advance.
Moore additionally raised economic concerns, saying business leaders had told him the enforcement effort was pulling legal workers from nursing homes, discouraging farmworkers from reporting to work, and contributing to higher costs for groceries and delivery services.
Reaction beyond the two official statements has been mixed. Sean Kennedy of Virginians for Safe Communities argued that sanctuary policies effectively push ICE toward public street enforcement rather than custodial jail arrests. The ACLU of Virginia’s executive director, by contrast, criticized the operation’s tactics as inappropriate law enforcement activity. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger had not issued a public statement on the operation as of the most recent reporting reviewed.
