As Donald Trump began his second term, he launched an aggressive deportation campaign, pouring billions into mass raids and declaring, “We’re getting the bad, hard criminals out.” But the data tells a different story.
Arrests of people without criminal records by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have surged 800% since January. Reports suggest that ICE faces mounting pressure to increase arrests.
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As of early June, 51,302 individuals were being held in ICE detention centers—marking the first time these facilities have detained over 50,000 people at once.
Only 30% of those detainees have criminal convictions. The rest either face pending charges or were detained for non-criminal immigration violations like visa overstays or unauthorized entry.
The data, released June 1 by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, shows that since Trump returned to office in January, ICE has not released clear, official figures on arrests or deportations.
Immigration detainees are either apprehended by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) near the U.S. border or within 100 miles of it, or by ICE agents within the country. But ICE’s focus on non-criminal arrests has drastically increased.
Before Trump’s inauguration on January 20, non-criminal detainees made up just 6%—around 850 people—of ICE arrests. That matched trends from the Biden era, where non-criminal arrests typically stayed below 10%.
Now, 7,781 immigrants without criminal convictions or pending charges have been arrested by ICE—comprising 23% of total ICE detentions. That’s an 800% increase, the highest since at least 2019.
At the same time, the percentage of ICE detainees with criminal convictions has dropped to 40%—a 20% decrease since January.
This dramatic rise in non-criminal arrests coincides with ICE ramping up workplace raids, undoing Biden-era restrictions. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kirsti Noem has reportedly issued arrest quotas of 3,000 per day
Earlier this week, Trump called on ICE to “expand efforts to detain and deport illegal Aliens” in Democratic-run cities. He also reversed a previous order protecting farmworkers from raids.
“The American People want our Cities, Schools, and Communities to be SAFE and FREE from Illegal Alien Crime, Conflict, and Chaos,” he posted in a lengthy message on Truth Social.
Just 8% of ICE Detainees Have Serious Criminal Records
The Trump administration’s lack of transparency has made it harder to track ICE’s enforcement trends. But internal ICE documents obtained by CNN indicate that the agency has deprioritized targeting violent criminals.
From October to May, only 10% of ICE detainees were convicted of serious crimes such as murder, rape, assault, or robbery.
Even among the one-third of all detainees with any criminal conviction—roughly 185,000 people—about 75% were convicted of non-serious offenses like traffic violations. ICE still classifies them broadly under “criminal convictions.”
Trump’s anti-immigration narrative has focused heavily on criminality and gangs. His administration recently deported around 245 Venezuelans to El Salvador over suspected ties to the Tren de Aragua gang.
Despite the rhetoric, only 9% of current ICE detainees have serious criminal histories, raising concerns about the agency’s priorities during this intensified enforcement phase.
Deportation numbers haven’t spiked as expected. In fact, deportations by border patrol have declined as fewer migrants attempt to enter the U.S.
Though this trend should favor the Trump administration, it may prompt officials to artificially boost deportation figures—regardless of individuals’ backgrounds.
“This push on numbers — exclusive of whether or not the job is being done right — is very concerning,” said Sarah Saldaña, former ICE director under Obama, in an interview with The New York Times.
“You’re going to have people who are being pushed to the limit, who in a rush may not get things right, including information on a person’s status.”
