ICE arrests nearly 75,000 people with no criminal history, data reveals
Newly released data shows that more than a third of the roughly 220,000 people arrested by ICE during the first nine months of the Trump administration had no criminal histories. Between January 20 and October 15, nearly 75,000 individuals without criminal records were detained in immigration operations that officials had said would focus on murderers, rapists, and gang members.
Ariel Ruiz Soto, senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, said the figures contradict the administration’s claims that it was targeting only the “worst of the worst.” The data, obtained by the University of California, Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project through a lawsuit against ICE, comes from an internal office that tracks arrests, detentions, and deportations. It does not include arrests by Border Patrol, which has been carrying out aggressive interior enforcement in cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Charlotte, and New Orleans. ICE field offices have faced pressure to increase arrests, with former White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller reportedly demanding 3,000 daily arrests in mid-May. Despite this, the data shows ICE averaged 824 arrests per day, more than double the Biden-era daily average of 312, but still below White House targets.
The records show that around 90% of those arrested were male. Mexican nationals made up the largest share with approximately 85,000 arrests, followed by 31,000 Guatemalans and 24,000 Hondurans. Over 60% of arrestees were between the ages of 25 and 45. The impact on businesses reliant on migrant labor has been significant. George Carrillo, CEO of the Hispanic Construction Council, noted that even conservative business owners are feeling the strain. The data also indicates that 22,959 of those arrested departed voluntarily, while ICE currently holds roughly 65,000 migrants in detention centers nationwide.
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