As ICE Arrests Increased, a Higher Portion Had No U.S. Criminal Record

While the Trump medication insists that it is targeting the “worst of the worst” successful its migration enforcement, it has not provided accusation to substantiate that, and the information that is disposable suggests the assertion has go little close implicit time.

“The Trump medication has specifically targeted the worst of the worst,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said successful a property league successful July. “The individuals that we are going aft are those that are convulsive criminals, those that are breaking our laws and those that person last removal orders.”

While the fig of monthly Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests has risen steadily implicit the archetypal twelvemonth of Trump’s 2nd term, the percent of those arrested who person nary transgression convictions oregon pending charges has besides gone up.

Our investigation of ICE apprehension information obtained by the Deportation Data Project found a doubling implicit clip of the percent without transgression records, meaning neither convictions nor charges. In Trump’s archetypal 3 months successful office, 21.9% of those arrested had nary transgression record. The percent roseate to 34.2% successful Trump’s 2nd 3 months, and past to 40.5% successful the 3 months ending successful mid-October. 

In January, astir 43% of those detained had nary convictions oregon charges, according to publically disposable ICE data.

Meanwhile, the percent of those arrested by ICE who person transgression convictions — not simply pending charges — fell from 44.7% successful Trump’s archetypal 3 months to 31.8% successful the 3 months ending successful mid-October.

Trump medication officials assertion astir of those without charges successful the U.S. person convictions oregon pending charges successful their location country, but DHS has provided nary information to backmost that up.

Moreover, portion the medication has agelong said it is targeting the “worst of the worst” criminals, lone a small fraction of those detained by ICE person been convicted of the benignant of convulsive felony offenses often cited by the administration, according to an investigation of leaked ICE information by the libertarian Cato Institute.

“I deliberation erstwhile you perceive to elder leaders successful the Trump administration, what they’re saying is that they’re arresting what they’re calling the, quote, worst of the worst. They’re arresting radical that they’re referring to arsenic murderers and rapists,” Graeme Blair, subordinate prof of governmental subject astatine UCLA and co-director of the Deportation Data Project, told KTLA 5 News successful July. “And I deliberation that that conscionable truly doesn’t archer the communicative of what they’re doing.”

The Definition of ‘Criminals’

President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted — arsenic helium did successful a Truth Social post connected Jan. 25 — that migration enforcement efforts are targeted astatine the “Tens of Millions of Illegal Alien Criminals [who] poured into our Country, including Hundreds of Thousands of Convicted Murderers, Rapists, Kidnappers, Drug Dealers, and Terrorists.”

In aboriginal December, DHS launched what it calls its “Worst of the Worst” website. The purpose, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said, was “so each American tin spot for themselves the transgression amerciable aliens that we are arresting, what crimes they committed, and which communities we removed them from.” The tract is filled with examples of immigrants arrested by ICE during the Trump medication who person convictions for superior convulsive felonies, according to DHS.

Noem insists the administration’s enforcement efforts are targeting conscionable specified criminals.

“Every azygous idiosyncratic [arrested oregon detained] has committed a crime, but 70% of them person committed oregon person charges against them connected convulsive crimes and crimes that they are charged with oregon person been convicted of that person travel from different countries,” Noem said connected CBS’ “Face the Nation” connected Jan. 18.

“And let’s retrieve the existent data, the existent data, 70%, approximately, it goes anyplace from 60% to 70%, of radical that are arrested are criminals, bottommost line,” White House borderline czar Tom Homan said connected NBC’s “Meet the Press” connected Jan. 11.

Later connected that aforesaid program, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy disputed those figures. “I heard him [Homan] accidental that they are undertaking targeted enforcement actions against criminals. Just not true. The immense bulk of radical they are rounding up are peaceful immigrants.”

DHS’ nationalist information does not supply a breakdown of the types of crimes committed by those with transgression convictions, nor of the types of crimes faced by those with pending charges, that would let the nationalist to measure Noem’s assertion astir the percent detained who person committed convulsive crimes. (Similarly, the information can’t reply whether the “vast majority” are “peaceful,” arsenic Murphy claimed — though it is close that the immense bulk person not been convicted of a transgression successful the U.S.)

“We person nary mode of knowing if the worst of the worst are being targeted,” Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, an subordinate argumentation expert astatine the Migration Policy Institute, told us. “The authorities is not giving america entree to that benignant of data.”

The administration’s 70% assertion besides relies connected including those with pending charges arsenic “criminals.”

“A complaint is not a conviction,” Lauren-Brooke Eisen, elder manager for justness astatine the Brennan Center for Justice, told us. “Just due to the fact that idiosyncratic is charged with a crime. … People are guiltless until proven guilty.”

“Someone with a pending complaint who is not convicted is not usually called a ‘criminal’ successful our transgression system,” David Hausman, an adjunct prof astatine the University of California, Berkeley School of Law who directs the Deportation Data Project, told us.

According to DHS data, astir 29% of those detained by ICE successful January had transgression convictions, down from astir 54% past February.

The modulation toward arresting a higher percent of immigrants with nary transgression grounds appears to coincide with the reported pressure from Noem and others successful the Trump medication to importantly summation the fig of migration arrests.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are looking to acceptable a extremity of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE each time and President Trump is going to support pushing to get that fig up higher each and each azygous day,” elder White House advisor Stephen Miller said connected Fox News connected May 29.

While the fig of arrests has not reached that goal, the fig of those successful ICE detention has risen by astir 80% since May, according to DHS data. (Those successful ICE detention see arrests made implicit an chartless play of time.)

Much of that growth, records indicate, is being driven by the apprehension of radical without transgression records, astatine slightest not successful the U.S.

Convictions oregon Pending Charges

In Trump’s archetypal year, astir 36.5% of those arrested by ICE had anterior transgression convictions. Another 29.8% faced pending transgression charges. And astir a 3rd had neither a condemnation nor a pending charge. That’s according to our investigation of information gathered by the Deportation Data Project, a associated task of the UC Berkeley Law School and UCLA that obtains individual-level apprehension information done Freedom of Information Act requests and lawsuits. Our investigation covers the play betwixt Trump’s inauguration connected Jan. 20, 2025, and Oct. 15, the latest information the task was capable to obtain.

Together, those with transgression convictions oregon pending charges represented 66% of arrests, which the medication has rounded up to 70%. But there’s much context: the inclination implicit clip of higher percentages of arrests of radical with neither a condemnation nor pending charge.

As we said, successful the archetypal 3 months of Trump’s presidency, astir 22% of those arrested by ICE had nary transgression record. By the 3 months ending successful mid-October, that had jumped to astir 40.5%.

ICE’s public statistics besides amusement that implicit time, a higher percent of those being detained person nary transgression convictions oregon pending charges.

Consider, successful February 2025, the archetypal afloat period of Trump’s 2nd term, astir 14.7% of those detained by ICE had nary transgression convictions oregon pending charges. By September, that percent had changeable up to 34.6%, and successful January it was 42.7%.

The fig of immigrants detained by ICE who person nary convictions oregon pending charges has soared, from 3,165 successful February 2025 to 25,193 successful January of this year.

By comparison, conscionable 869 of those detained by ICE successful December 2024 (Biden’s past afloat month) had nary convictions oregon pending charges. Then, 64% of those detained by ICE had transgression convictions. In January, 2026, it was astir 29%, according to ICE data.

Types of Crimes

David Bier, the manager of migration studies astatine the Cato Institute, analyzed nonpublic information from ICE leaked to Cato, and helium recovered that among those with transgression convictions detained by ICE, 8% were convicted of convulsive oregon spot crimes (about 5% were convulsive transgression convictions).

“And that includes precise insignificant assaults. I mean, not similar rape and murder,” Bier said successful a vigor interrogation with KPFA connected Jan. 22. “These are idiosyncratic had an altercation astatine a barroom oregon things similar that, not superior convulsive criminals who committed execution and rape.”

Contrary to medication rhetoric astir targeting the worst of the worst, Bier described the arrests nether Trump arsenic “indiscriminate.”

“They person removed the prioritization that was successful spot nether the Biden medication to spell aft those convulsive criminals that they’re highlighting,” Bier said. “They got escaped of that argumentation and replaced it connected Day One with a argumentation of arresting radical who are the astir convenient to arrest.”

Cato’s findings were corroborated by a New York Times analysis of ICE information obtained done the Deportation Data Project. Between the play of Jan. 20 and Oct. 15, the Times recovered that nationwide, 37% of those arrested successful ICE operations had immoderate past transgression conviction. Just 7% had a convulsive conviction. Another 30% had pending transgression charges, and 33% had nary transgression charges.

The disparity was adjacent wider successful cities and states that person been targeted for enhanced migration enforcement. In the 4 areas analyzed — Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts and Illinois, the bulk of those swept up by ICE had nary transgression grounds (convictions oregon pending charges). Details connected the operations successful Minneapolis were not disposable yet.

The New York Times investigation noted that portion lone a fraction of those arrested had been convicted of a convulsive crime, “The astir communal non-violent convictions were for driving nether the power and different postulation offenses.”

Charges successful Home Countries?

Pushing backmost against reports of higher percentages of ICE arrests of immigrants without transgression records, medication officials person claimed that those radical often person convictions oregon pending charges successful their location countries.

Although DHS did not respond to our queries for this story, DHS’ McLaughlin has said, “Many of the individuals that are counted arsenic ‘non-criminals’ are really terrorists, quality rights abusers, gangsters and more; they conscionable don’t person a rap expanse successful the U.S.”

But DHS does not supply immoderate nationalist information to corroborate however galore of those arrested by ICE acceptable that description, oregon what charges they look oregon person been convicted of successful their location countries.

It’s portion of the deficiency of transparency that has been a occupation with the Trump administration, said Putzel-Kavanaugh of the Migration Policy Institute, adding that whether the U.S. is capable to get transgression records from an immigrant’s location state is highly state specific. Some countries are simply much forthcoming astir sharing specified data.

“We’re not alert of information that DHS holds, and surely it’s not been provided successful the information that they’ve shared with america astir immoderate benignant of overseas transgression connections,” Blair of the Deportation Data Project said. “I deliberation that that’s, frankly, a batch of bluster.”

Correction, Jan. 28: We corrected the day of a punctuation by Noem, which was successful July, and added the afloat condemnation of her remark.

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