Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities across the US are holding significantly more people than their normal capacity, according to recent federal data. The number of immigrants without any criminal history in detention has surged by 1,271% since before Donald Trump's second term began, contradicting administration claims that enforcement prioritises violent criminals.
As of mid-June, over 11,700 detainees had no record of being charged with or convicted of a crime. Being undocumented is a civil infraction, not a criminal offence, yet the Trump administration has continued to conflate undocumented immigrants with those who have criminal histories. Border czar Tom Homan acknowledged that people without criminal records are viable targets for arrest.
Despite this, homeland security officials maintain they are focusing on 'criminal illegal aliens'. However, nearly a third of all ICE arrests in the latest data involved individuals with no criminal history. While detainees with criminal records or pending charges still form the majority, the proportion of non-criminal detainees is rising disproportionately.
The total number of immigrants in ICE detention has reached a historic high, exceeding 56,000, against a capacity of 41,500. Analysis by Syracuse University's Austin Kocher confirms this is the highest ever recorded. The data also shows that most crimes among those with records are misdemeanours, not violent felonies as the administration has often claimed.
Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin criticised previous reports of an 807% increase, dismissing the Guardian and CNN as 'nonpartisan outlets' she does not rely on for facts. However, the Guardian's analysis is based on ICE's own publicly available data, comparing current figures with historical records from the Vera Institute of Justice.
