How many people detained by ICE in 2025–2026 had no criminal convictions?

1. What the raw counts show: tens of thousands, not a handful

TRAC’s compilation of ICE’s own postings reported that, as of mid‑November 2025, there were about 47,964 people in ICE custody who had never been convicted of a criminal offense, representing roughly 73.6% of the detained population at that time ^[1]; an adjacent TRAC datapoint cited 48,377 people with no criminal conviction out of 65,735 held as of November 30, 2025 ^[2].

2. Shifting totals into early January 2026 — growth but varied metrics

ICE‑related tallies differed by date and by whether they counted CBP transfers or short‑term border holdings; one report put the detained population at 68,990 on January 7, 2026, and multiple analyses assert that the recent growth in the detained population came largely from people without criminal convictions or charges ^{[3] [4]}. These changes mean a simple single number for “2025–2026” is misleading unless the reporting date and the precise population counted are specified ^{[3] [4]}.

3. How percentages vary by source and definition

Several reputable analyses found broadly similar patterns but used different denominators: Migration Policy reported 71% of ICE detainees had no criminal conviction as of September 2025 ^[5], the Cato Institute’s review of leaked data and ICE postings put the share of those with no conviction at roughly 70% for some removal cohorts and noted that only 5% of detainees had violent convictions ^[6], and independent trackers and media outlets found the “no‑conviction” group to be the largest single cohort in ICE custody ^{[7] [8]}. Those percentage differences reflect whether the measure captures people booked into custody, people detained on a particular snapshot date, or people removed.

4. Why the numbers rose: policy change, hiring and enforcement shifts

Analysts tie the rise in detainees without convictions to policy and capacity changes: ICE expanded mandatory‑detention classifications in mid‑2025 and substantially increased hiring and enforcement, which together drove a surge of arrests and detentions that disproportionately pulled in people without criminal convictions ^{[5] [9]}. TRAC further documented that almost all of the net increase in detained people after a government shutdown were individuals with no criminal history, accounting for roughly 97% of the net rise in detained numbers in that window ^[1].

5. Limits, caveats and competing narratives

Reporting differences matter: some pieces focus on “book‑ins” (new arrests) while others report snapshot counts in facilities, and ICE’s public descriptors group people with no convictions together even if they have pending charges, prior immigration removals, or reentry offenses ^{[10] [6]}. Pro‑enforcement sources emphasize that many detained without convictions have other factors (repeated reentry, outstanding removal orders) that legally justify detention under ICE rules ^[10], while civil‑liberties organizations and watchdogs highlight the public‑safety mismatch and human‑cost of detaining large numbers of non‑convicted individuals ^{[1] [5]}.

6. Bottom line (direct answer)

Using contemporaneous public and independent counts from late 2025, the number of people in ICE custody who had no criminal convictions was on the order of tens of thousands — about 48,000 such detainees amid a detained population of roughly 65,000 as of mid‑ to late‑November 2025 ^{[1] [2]} — and similar patterns persisted into early January 2026 when total detained counts rose near 69,000 and the growth was again driven mainly by those without convictions ^{[3] [4]}. The precise tally depends on the snapshot date and whether short‑term border holdings or only ICE facility populations are counted ^{[3] [10]}.