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Is ice detaining immigrants who are legally in the United States with no criminal record?
Executive summary
Available reporting shows that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained substantial numbers of people who do not have criminal convictions: ICE data and investigative reporting indicate that a majority of people booked into custody in FY2025 had no criminal conviction beyond immigration- or traffic‑related offenses (more than 75% per one compilation) and independent projects show the agency detains more people without criminal records than with one [1] [2]. Court rulings and lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions have found particular arrests and detention practices unlawful and have ordered releases of hundreds of people detained between June and October 2025 [3] [4].
1. What the data and investigations say: ICE is detaining many people without criminal convictions
ICE’s own release statistics and independent analyses compiled by news organizations show a large share of those booked into ICE custody in FY2025 lacked criminal convictions beyond immigration‑ or traffic‑related offenses — CNN reported “more than 75%” of people booked into custody through May had no criminal conviction other than immigration/traffic matters, and The Marshall Project and The Guardian analyses found ICE detains more people without criminal records than with them [1] [2] [5].
2. Legal immigrants and citizens caught up in enforcement: first‑hand accounts and opinion reporting
The New York Times published an opinion feature describing multiple people who entered and stayed in the U.S. legally but were nevertheless detained by ICE, presenting detailed individual accounts that lawyers and advocates say reflect a broader pattern [6]. Independent outlets have also documented cases where U.S. citizens and lawful residents were detained or arrested, with ProPublica/OPB and CBC tallying more than 170 citizen detentions reported since the administration change — reporting that raises concerns about mistaken identity, procedural failures or overbroad tactics [7] [8].
3. Investigations of tactics and secretive holding: oversight gaps and alleged policy violations
The Guardian’s investigation found ICE increasingly holding people in small, often opaque holding rooms for days or weeks in ways advocates say violate agency policy; the piece argues a June policy change may have shifted legal arguments while the practice had already expanded [9]. The Marshall Project notes that public data releases from ICE and DHS have become less complete and timely, hampering transparent oversight of detention practices [2].
4. Court actions and settlements: judges ordering releases and finding violations
Federal judges and litigation by immigrant‑rights groups have produced tangible pushback: a Chicago judge ordered the release of at least 313 people detained by ICE between June and early October, and another ruling required DHS to produce lists and release some detainees allegedly arrested without warrant or in violation of a consent decree — and a separate press release by immigrant‑justice groups said up to 615 people could be eligible for alternatives to detention [3] [4].
5. Government position and stated criteria for detention
ICE’s public materials state custody decisions consider immigration history, criminal records, family ties, humanitarian factors and flight risk, and that detention is used to secure presence for proceedings or when mandatory by law [10]. The Department of Homeland Security has defended aggressive enforcement as targeting criminal illegal aliens, while critics and legal scholars say the rollout shows widening nets that sweep in non‑criminal and legally present people [1] [8].
6. Competing interpretations and the limitations of current reporting
Advocates, courts and several investigative outlets frame the pattern as a systemic problem of overreach and policy violation; ICE and DHS frame enforcement as lawful and focused on public‑safety priorities [4] [10] [1]. Important limitations: ICE’s public dashboards became less comprehensive after 2024, and reporters note gaps in official data that make it hard to quantify precisely how many legally present non‑criminal immigrants have been detained overall [2] [5]. Available sources do not provide a single federal tally that separates lawful permanent residents, visa holders, asylum grantees, and citizens wrongly detained across all enforcement actions.
7. What to watch next — evidence that could clarify the scale
Look for updated ICE or DHS dataset releases, court filings in the ongoing Chicago litigation (which could produce lists of arrests and releases), and follow‑up reporting by investigative outlets such as The Guardian, CNN, The Marshall Project and local newsrooms that have been tracking cases; those sources have already produced the most detailed counts and case studies to date [9] [1] [2] [5].
Bottom line: multiple reputable investigations, ICE data extracts and recent federal court orders together show ICE has detained many people without criminal convictions and that some legally present immigrants and even U.S. citizens have been caught up in enforcement actions — but gaps in public data mean the precise national scale and the breakdown by immigration status remain incompletely documented in available reporting [1] [2] [3].