Homan Tells Doral Crowd ICE Made Nearly 200,000 Arrests in Four Months, Promises More in 2027

White House border czar Tom Homan used a stage at Trump National Doral Miami on Thursday, Oct. 1, to claim that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made nearly 200,000 interior arrests over the past four months and to promise that enforcement will grow next year, delivering the message in the South Florida city that has become the most visible local flashpoint of the administration's deportation push.

"In the last four months, nearly 200,000 arrests in the interior. That's unprecedented," Homan said at the America First Policy Institute's Hispanic Leadership Conference, according to accounts of the speech. He told the audience that mass deportation "is happening" and added, "Wait until you see what we do next year," a line Local 10 News used to headline its coverage. Reports of the event also quoted him saying the administration would "keep breaking records."

The setting gave the remarks extra weight in Florida. Doral, a city of about 76,500 people west of Miami International Airport, has the highest share of Venezuelan residents of any U.S. city, and many of those families now say ICE arrests have reached their own neighborhoods. One day after Homan spoke, a new coalition of Venezuelan organizations gathered in Doral to denounce the deportations and announce plans to mobilize voters for the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

What Homan claimed

Homan's four-month figure covers June through September 2026. In his appearance and in a follow-up interview with CBS News, he said ICE had carried out nearly 200,000 arrests in the interior of the country over that span. He also suggested September could rank as a record month for deportations in the agency's 23-year history, according to reports on the interview, though he softened that in the CBS interview to say September would come close to a record.

ICE has not yet published a federal dataset confirming the four-month total, and arrests do not translate directly into removals. Earlier figures do show a steep climb over the summer. ICE recorded 49,571 arrests in July, the highest monthly total of President Donald Trump's second term, according to agency data obtained by the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA. That was about 15% above June's 43,021 arrests, which had itself been a record for the administration.

More than half of July's arrests came from four states: Texas, Florida, California and Georgia, according to the project's analysis. CBS News reported in early August that the number of people held in ICE detention stood at about 68,000, below a January peak of more than 70,000. Independent tracking has also found that more than half of the people arrested in July had no criminal conviction or pending criminal charge.

Why Doral is the flashpoint

Doral is home to roughly 27,000 residents of Venezuelan origin, and about 40% of the city's population has Venezuelan roots, according to published demographic accounts. The city gave Trump about 60% of its vote in 2024, support that many residents tied to his hard line against the government of Nicolas Maduro, who was captured by the U.S. military in January.

That support has collided with the enforcement campaign. ICE arrests within Doral rose from three in December 2025 to 17 in July 2026, according to Miami Herald data cited in coverage of the speech. In mid-September, ICE agents were seen detaining people at a gas station near Northwest 41st Street and 107th Avenue, CBS News Miami reported on Sept. 16.

Business owners say the fear has emptied their dining rooms. "Our sales have dropped 70%. We spend hours empty," Katia Rios, owner of Pipo Burgers, told CBS News Miami. Another restaurant co-owner, Angelica Yepez, told the station she lost six workers who were afraid of being detained even though they had pending asylum applications.

Homan was asked about the Doral arrests earlier, on Sept. 11, by a Spanish journalist covering the White House. In remarks posted on social media and reported by Cuban diaspora outlets, he said that people who supported Trump voted for him to enforce immigration laws and secure the border.

The 287(g) agreement at the center of the fight

Much of the local anger has focused on Doral's 287(g) agreement with ICE, which the City Council approved unanimously in April 2025, according to WLRN. The program deputizes local police to assist federal immigration enforcement.

Doral is far from alone. A state law signed in February 2025 required county jails to enter 287(g) agreements, and all 67 Florida sheriffs have signed on, giving Florida full county participation in the program. Florida has more 287(g) agreements than any other state, with nearly 350 state and local agencies working with ICE as of agency data posted in February 2026, according to an analysis by NOTUS. State agencies including the Florida Highway Patrol and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement also participate.

Doral Mayor Christi Fraga, a Republican, has said the city cannot stop federal operations. "This is federal law. We cannot impede the federal ICE agents from coming into the cities and doing their enforcement," she told CBS News Miami, adding that the city receives no advance notice of operations. She has also told reporters she disagrees with how ICE is handling the operations, according to WLRN.

On Sept. 22, former U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia, immigrant advocates and Democratic candidates rallied outside Doral City Hall to demand the city end the agreement. South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez, whose city has not signed a 287(g) agreement, told the crowd that "it doesn't have to be this way," CBS News Miami reported. Democratic congressional candidate Nicole Locklin, Venezuelan American Caucus director Adelys Ferro and Democratic chief financial officer candidate Annette Taddeo also took part, according to WLRN.

A Venezuelan coalition turns to the ballot

On Friday, Oct. 2, the newly formed Coalition of Venezuelans in the USA launched in Doral and delivered a letter to Republican U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a senior member of Miami-Dade's congressional delegation. The letter, signed by 20 organizations and 126 community leaders, urged him to speak out publicly about the ICE arrests in the area, according to wire service and diaspora media accounts.

Helene Villalonga, president of the Multicultural Association of Activists Voice and Expression, known as Amavex, led the event. She said the coalition has the power to call people to vote and wants a balance of power restored in Congress, according to the reports, while making clear the group will not endorse specific candidates and will focus on civic participation.

The pressure on Diaz-Balart had been building. A day before the coalition's event, he described the administration's response to the immigration situation as excessive in an interview with Telemundo, according to accounts of the interview. Democrats have made Doral's arrests a midterm theme in South Florida congressional races, betting that frustration among Venezuelan voters who backed Trump in 2024 can shift votes in November.

What it means for Florida

For Florida, Homan's promise of more enforcement in 2027 lands in a state that has built more cooperation with ICE into local policing than any other. Because every county jail participates in 287(g), arrests that start with routine local contact can feed directly into federal custody across all 67 counties, not only in South Florida.

The economic effects reported in Doral, from lost sales to workers staying home, also echo concerns raised by employers in construction, agriculture and hospitality, industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor across the state. The arrests of people with pending asylum cases or no criminal record have drawn particular attention in Venezuelan and Cuban communities, where many families arrived in recent years and have cases still moving through the immigration courts.

Politically, the tension is sharpest in Miami-Dade, where Republicans won large margins among Hispanic voters in 2024. The Venezuelan coalition's decision to focus on turnout rather than endorsements leaves open how that frustration will translate at the polls, but both parties are now campaigning on the issue in districts that include Doral.

What's next

Homan has said enforcement will expand in 2027, and ICE is expected to release fuller arrest and removal data for the summer months in the coming weeks, which would show whether the four-month total and the September record he described hold up. In Doral, advocates are continuing to press the City Council to end its 287(g) agreement, while the Venezuelan coalition plans voter outreach ahead of the Nov. 3 general election. Under state law, early voting in Florida must begin no later than Oct. 24.