Homestead, Fla. ? Neighbors of Elvira Carvajal sought refuge in her house so immigration agents wouldn’t arrest them. Friends of Herman Martinez asked him to bring them milk for their children because they were afraid to step onto the streets.

In the weeks leading up to the huge pro-immigrant rallies in the spring of 2006, rumors swirled that authorities were on the streets rounding up illegal immigrants across the country. Non-worksite arrests did indeed jump in the first half of 2006, up 75 percent over the previous year, according to Homeland Security data released to The Associated Press.

However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement insists the increase did not come from random sweeps but from its standing policy of making specific arrests, and that more than two-thirds of those detained already had deportation orders.

“We’ve said over and over that we don’t do random sweeps. We do targeted enforcement,” agency spokeswoman Jamie Zuieback said.

ICE maintains that it targets people it considers fugitives, those who remain in the U.S. despite a deportation order. However, during a search for fugitives, agents can also detain individuals they suspect of being in the country illegally in so-called “collateral arrests.”

Since the department was created in 2003, it has steadily arrested more people as its budget and resources have grown, Zuieback said. The spike in detentions is “not in the least bit political,” she said.

In the first three months of 2006, ICE’s fugitive operations program arrested 3,222 people nationwide, according to information released last month. That compared to the 2,174 people arrested in the same period of 2005.

During the height of the 2006 immigration debate, from April through June, the number of arrests jumped to 4,516. That was more than double the 2,234 arrests for the same period of 2005.