The Texas Nicaraguan Community (TNC) used to receive around three reports of missing Nicaraguans in the U.S. per week. Now, that number has increased to more than six per day. In just the first week of March 2025, they documented over 40 cases, and by the second week, they had lost count, overwhelmed by the flood of reports, a TNC member told Divergentes.
TNC suspects these disappearances are linked to the immigration raids, detentions, and deportations being carried out by the U.S. government under President Donald Trump. Since taking office on January 20, Trump has ramped up immigrant arrests through the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE).
“We used to get a maximum of three disappearance reports per week, and we’d search for people through county records and phone calls. But now, with dozens of cases, our volunteers simply can’t keep up. We’ve already told people we can’t help them find their missing relatives. Some families message us multiple times a day asking for updates, but it’s impossible to locate someone in just a day or two without any information,” said the volunteer, who requested anonymity.
Before March, reports of missing individuals received by TNC stemmed from various causes, not necessarily linked to ICE detentions. Now, nearly all cases follow the same pattern: Nicaraguans leaving for or returning from work and never making it home.
This pattern mirrors the way ICE detentions are carried out. Given the increasing number of arrests, TNC believes many of the missing Nicaraguans may already be in deportation proceedings.
Although ICE provides an online detainee locator, individuals are not immediately listed in the system, often taking days before their names appear. This delay fuels anxiety and uncertainty among families, who frequently receive no answers when calling or visiting ICE offices.
“ICE is extremely secretive. There’s no way to get information from them. Right now, families need to be patient. When I say ICE is secretive, I mean there is zero communication from them. They don’t even tell families what steps to take if a loved one has been detained. There’s nothing anyone can do,” the volunteer explained.
Over 33,000 Arrests in Trump’s First 50 Days
During the first 50 days of Trump’s administration, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) reported carrying out 33,809 arrests.
“To put that number into perspective, in the entire fiscal year of 2024, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations conducted a total of 33,242 arrests,” the agency noted.
Of those arrested in early 2025:
- 14,111 had criminal records and prior convictions.
- 9,980 had pending criminal charges.
- 9,151 had no criminal history.
So far, ICE has not provided a breakdown of arrests by nationality.
Meanwhile, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) data system in the U.S. recorded 58,588 Notices to Appear (NTA) in immigration court during January 2025 alone. These notices, issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), are given to individuals deemed deportable or inadmissible in the U.S.
Of these cases, 1,369 involved Nicaraguans, ranking Nicaragua among the top 10 nationalities most frequently summoned to immigration court.
At least 855 NTAs were issued in the final weeks of former President Joe Biden’s administration, while 514 were issued in the early days of Trump’s presidency. According to TRAC, Biden’s NTAs covered the period from January 1–19, while Trump’s covered January 20–31.
TRAC has criticized the Trump administration for its inconsistent and incomplete reporting of NTA data, which is often released without concrete figures and only in percentage terms.
“These numbers cannot be relied upon to tell the full story of what is actually happening,” the platform warned.TRAC also noted that while ICE has been conducting a media campaign promoting its enforcement actions, the details provided are incomplete or nonexistent, making independent verification difficult. In other words, aside from the daily detention figures shared on social media, ICE continues to operate with a significant lack of transparency regarding its data and the execution of arrests.