Immigrants without criminal histories have become the largest group in U.S. immigration detention, according to new government data that undercuts the Trump administration’s narrative that its deportation machine is primarily targeting violent offenders.
Figures released Thursday show that 16,523 people in ICE custody had no criminal record, compared with 15,725 with prior convictions and 13,767 with pending charges. In total, 59,762 people are now detained nationwide.
The numbers reflect a dramatic shift. Before Donald Trump’s return to the White House, ICE arrests of immigrants without criminal records represented only a fraction of detainees. Since January, however, that group has surged, fueled by directives from top Homeland Security officials ordering ICE to make 3,000 arrests per day — about one million annually.
To meet those quotas, ICE has increasingly relied on “collateral arrests,” in which agents detain additional people encountered during operations targeting others. Critics say the practice has swept up longtime residents and even individuals legally present in the U.S. A recent raid at a Hyundai factory construction site in Georgia netted more than 300 workers, most of them South Korean nationals. At least one man held was later found to have a valid visa, though he was still forced into a “voluntary departure,” sparking a diplomatic rift with Seoul.
Civil rights advocates warn the crackdown criminalizes people who have committed no offense beyond being undocumented — which under U.S. law is a civil infraction, not a crime. “These are hardworking people. These are not criminals,” said a former DHS civil rights official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “I’m sure the Trump administration is defining ‘criminal’ really widely … but these are not bad people.”
The administration has sought to defend its campaign. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, told The Guardian: “The facts are ICE is targeting the worst of the worst – including murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, and rapists. Seventy percent of ICE arrests are of criminal illegal aliens who have been convicted or have pending charges in the U.S.”
Still, ICE’s own data shows that those with no criminal record now outnumber both convicted and charged detainees — a stark indicator of how the administration’s expanded dragnet is reshaping immigration enforcement.
