What are the age, gender, and nationality breakdowns of people arrested by ICE in 2025?
Executive summary
ICE arrest totals in 2025 rose sharply—reports show roughly 900–1,100 arrests per day in recent weeks, producing hundreds of thousands of arrests year‑to‑date (Axios reports about 1,100/day; ICE data shared via UC Berkeley and Deportation Data Project) [1]. Multiple analyses find a large and growing share of those arrested had no criminal conviction: about 42–45% of arrests in mid‑2025 were people without charges or convictions (Axios), and in several high‑profile operations more than half lacked criminal records (New York Times) [2] [3].
1. Arrest volume and the changing composition
ICE arrest volumes in 2025 surged compared with the previous administration: Enforcement and Removal Operations was arresting roughly 1,100 people per day in recent weeks, according to government data analyzed by Axios and others [1]. Journalistic analyses and FOIA‑released datasets underpin this finding; they also show the agency’s arrest mix shifted toward people without criminal convictions, a change that occurred as ICE increased interior enforcement and leadership set arrest targets [2] [1].
2. Age breakdown — what sources report and what they don’t
Available reporting and the ICE releases cited by news outlets focus on criminal history and location of arrests rather than a comprehensive age breakdown in published summaries; the specific age distribution of people arrested in 2025 is not detailed in the cited pieces. The Guardian and ICE publish bi‑weekly detention management statistics and initial book‑ins that can include age fields, but the summaries and news analyses in the provided sources emphasize counts, criminal‑record status and geography rather than an explicit age‑by‑percentage table in 2025 excerpts [4] [5]. Therefore: not found in current reporting.
3. Gender breakdown — limited public presentation
The sources reviewed do not present a clear, headline gender breakdown of all 2025 ICE arrests. ICE’s statistics pages and the datasets used by The Guardian, Axios and The New York Times may contain demographic fields, yet the published stories and summaries focus on arrest totals and criminal‑record status; they do not quote a definitive male/female percentage for the full year in the sources provided here [4] [5] [1]. Available sources do not mention a comprehensive gender breakdown for 2025 arrests.
4. Nationality and country‑of‑origin reporting
News outlets analyzing ICE datasets show that arrests are numerous and nationwide, but the provided excerpts do not supply a consolidated nationality breakdown for all arrests in 2025. The Migration Policy Institute and TRAC note that ICE relies on multiple databases and that interior arrests predominate, which implies a breadth of national origins among those arrested; however, a country‑by‑country percentage table for 2025 arrests is not presented in the supplied reporting [6] [7]. Available sources do not mention a full nationality breakdown.
5. Criminal‑record status is the most robust demographic reported
Multiple independent outlets converge on one clear point: a large share of people arrested in 2025 lacked criminal convictions. Axios reported that people without criminal charges made up nearly 45% of ICE arrests in June, up from about 20% in January [2]. The New York Times analysis of government records through Oct. 15 found that in several targeted city operations more than half of arrestees had no criminal record and nationwide less than 30% of those arrested in those operations had convictions; overall a smaller share had violent‑crime convictions [3]. Stateline/States Newsroom likewise reports that under the administration fewer than half of ICE arrests are of convicted criminals, and shares vary by state [8].
6. Why these gaps exist and how to read the data
Journalists and analysts caution that ICE’s public releases come in bi‑weekly “detention management statistics” and in separate “Initial Book‑Ins” tables; depending on methodology, arrest counts can undercount operations that did not result in someone entering ICE detention, and datasets may count multiple arrests per individual [4] [1]. The Journalist’s Resource notes that a near‑steady detained population does not mean arrests aren’t rising, because arrests, releases, transfers and shorter stays can mask flow dynamics [9]. Any demographic snapshot will depend on which ICE file and which time window analysts use [4] [9].
7. Competing perspectives and agendas in coverage
Reporting frames differ: outlets like Axios and The New York Times emphasize the rise in arrests and the high share without convictions as evidence of a policy shift and human‑impact concerns [2] [3]. ICE’s own materials describe enforcement priorities—public‑safety‑oriented arrests historically concentrated on certain convictions—and emphasize authority to arrest immigration violators regardless of criminal history [5]. Advocacy or law‑firm commentaries interpret the numbers as evidence of mass detention and policy intent; their framing carries an explicit critical agenda and sometimes broader claims [10]. Readers should treat source motives and selection of metrics as influential.
8. What to watch and where to get the fuller breakdowns
For the specific age, gender and nationality tables you asked for, consult the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations datasets, the “Initial Book‑Ins by Arresting Agency and Month” and the centralized detention statistics that journalists have been archiving (The Guardian, Deportation Data Project, TRAC). The Guardian and the New York Times have used those files to produce detailed interactive breakdowns; the excerpts here show those datasets exist but do not reproduce a full demographic matrix in the provided reporting [4] [3]. If you want, I can pull the precise ICE tables referenced by these outlets and extract age, gender and nationality percentages directly from the datasets cited [4] [1].