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What felony convictions most frequently lead to immigration detention in the U.S. today?
Executive summary
Available reporting and government summaries show that aggravated felonies (a broad federal immigration category including drug trafficking, some theft and violent crimes) and criminal inadmissibility/controlled-substance convictions are the categories that most reliably trigger mandatory immigration detention or removal proceedings under immigration law (see Immigrant Defense Project checklist) [1]. But recent public-data analyses and reporting make a different empirical point: most people ICE has arrested or held in detention in 2022–2025 were arrested with misdemeanors, pending charges, or no criminal convictions at all — with multiple outlets and analysts reporting roughly 70–78% of detainees or arrestees had misdemeanors or no convictions in the periods they studied [2] [3] [4] [5] [6].
1. The legal “magnet” crimes that trigger detention and removal
Under federal immigration law, certain convictions are effectively automatic triggers for detention and removal: the “aggravated felony” category and criminal inadmissibility grounds (including many controlled-substance offenses) create bars to relief and can mandate detention once removal proceedings are initiated (Immigrant Defense Project checklist summarizing aggravated-felony and inadmissibility consequences) [1]. Practitioners and law firms emphasize aggravated felonies and crimes involving moral turpitude as the convictions most likely to “trip up” noncitizens, producing mandatory detention, deportation exposure, and loss of relief (criminal immigration law analysis) [7].
2. Government statistics and ICE’s historical arrest patterns
ICE’s own public materials have long listed the types of criminal convictions it commonly arrests on — DUI, drug possession, assault, and criminal traffic offenses such as hit-and-run — suggesting lower-level felonies and misdemeanors frequently appear in enforcement caseloads (ICE statistics page) [8]. ICE categorizes detainees by criminal-history buckets (convictions, pending charges, no convictions), which is how outside analysts compare criminality across the detained population [8].
3. What recent data-driven reporting finds: most detainees lack felony convictions
Multiple recent investigations and think‑tank analyses covering 2022–2025 find that a large share of people arrested or held by ICE did not have felony convictions. The Guardian’s analysis reports that between October 2022 and November 2024, 78% arrested by ICE had a misdemeanor conviction or no conviction at all [2] [3]. Migration Policy Institute and reporting cited by The New York Times find that by September 2025 roughly 71% of those in immigration detention did not have criminal convictions [9] [4]. Independent trackers reported similar figures (about 71.5% with no conviction as of Sept. 21, 2025) [6]. These findings complicate the simple claim that “felonies” are the main driver of contemporary immigration detention numbers [2] [9] [3] [4] [6].
4. Reconciling law and practice: why the two pictures differ
There are two distinct statements in tension: (A) which convictions legally trigger mandatory detention or loss of relief (aggravated felonies, controlled-substances/inadmissibility grounds, etc.), and (B) who ICE actually arrests and detains in practice. The law identifies specific felony-level categories (aggravated felonies) that compel detention or removal consequences [1]; enforcement data show that on the ground many detained people either have minor criminal histories, pending charges, or no convictions — and that ICE arrests often include misdemeanors and non-criminal immigration violations [8] [2] [3] [4] [6].
5. Competing interpretations and political stakes
Advocates and many media outlets frame the recent trends as proof that enforcement has broadened beyond the “worst of the worst,” noting large proportions of detainees without convictions and frequent “collateral arrests” (The Guardian, Migration Policy, TRAC) [2] [3] [4] [6]. Authorities and administration statements (not included in provided sources) often stress that ICE prioritizes individuals with criminal convictions; available reporting, however, documents a divergence between stated priorities and actual arrest/detention patterns [2] [8] [3] [4].
6. Practical implication for the original question
If you mean “which felony convictions most frequently lead to immigration detention” in a legal sense, aggravated felonies (drug trafficking, certain violent crimes and theft offenses) and criminal inadmissibility/controlled-substance convictions are the central categories that mandate detention or bar relief [1] [7]. If you mean empirically “what convictions do most people in ICE custody have today,” contemporary data and press analyses show most detained people across 2022–2025 had misdemeanors, pending charges, or no convictions — meaning felony convictions are not the predominant feature of the detained population in the recent period analyzed [2] [9] [3] [4] [6].
Limitations: available sources do not provide a single disaggregated, up‑to‑date national table listing the top felony convictions by frequency in detention; instead the sources offer legal categories (Immigrant Defense Project) and separate empirical snapshots showing most detainees lack felony convictions [1] [2] [9] [3] [4] [6]. If you want a precise ranked list of felony offenses by number of detainees, that was not found in the current reporting — you would need ICE’s raw arrest/detention datasets or a specific FOIA-based analysis not among the provided sources.