'Triple the arrests': US officials Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller 'yelled at' ICE agents to arrest 3,000 immigrants per day

US President Donald Trump's aide Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to significantly increase daily arrests to 3,000 per week, in a "tense" meeting last week, Axios reported.

The new target will be triple the number of arrests made by ICE agents during the early days of Trump's second term.

The administration deported 17,000 people in April, according to ICE, which is a 29 percent increase over April 2024, according to NBC News.

As the House passed Trump's "big beautiful bill" last week, Capitol Hill Republicans are working on providing an extra $147 billion in immigration funds over the next 10 years.

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Noem however, took a "milder approach" during the meeting held in Washington, Miller adopted a "harsh" tone with agents and "had people leaving the meeting feeling their jobs could be in jeopardy if the new targets aren't reached,” according to Axios report.

Notably, this is not the first time Miller has “yelled” at senior US officials about getting deportation numbers up.

“Keeping President Trump's promise to deport illegal aliens is something the administration takes seriously,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to The Independent.

“We are committed to aggressively and efficiently removing illegal aliens from the United States, and ensuring our law enforcement officers have the resources necessary to do so. The safety of the American people depends upon it,” Jackson added.

Meanwhile, DHS and ICE have requested more staffing, bed space and resources. The ICE also signed agreements to add more bed space to existing detention spaces in the US.

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