How many noncitizens with criminal convictions were deported by ICE in 2025?
Executive summary
Available reporting does not provide a single authoritative, published tally of how many noncitizens with criminal convictions ICE deported during the full calendar year 2025; however, public analyses of ICE data for parts of 2025 show that people with convictions were a substantial but minority share of deportations — for example, The Marshall Project’s analysis indicates roughly one-third of the more than 120,000 people deported from January through May 2025 had criminal convictions, implying about 40,000 convicted noncitizens deported in that five‑month window [1]. Government and independent datasets released through 2025 emphasize proportions (convicted vs. no conviction) rather than a definitive 2025 year‑end absolute number [2] [3].
1. What the sources actually say about convictions among deported people
ICE’s public statistics and datasets focus on categories of encounters, arrests and removals but the releases cited in reporting emphasize rates and subgroup shares rather than publishing a single calendar‑year total of deportations of people with convictions; independent projects that processed ICE’s FOIA data (the Deportation Data Project) and news outlets analyzed those files to produce counts and percentages that reporters cite [2] [3]. The Marshall Project reported that more than 120,000 people were deported between January and May 2025 and that two‑thirds of them had no criminal conviction, leaving roughly one‑third with convictions — about 40,000 people in that period [1].
2. How independent analysts convert share data into headcounts
Groups such as the Marshall Project, Cato Institute and university research projects have taken ICE data releases (or leaked/nonpublic sets) and calculated both shares and period counts; these analyses consistently find that noncitizens without convictions make up a majority of arrests and deportations through much of 2025, and that convicted noncitizens constitute a minority share — often estimated near one‑third or lower depending on the time window and dataset [1] [4] [5]. Those share figures allow straightforward back‑of‑the‑envelope headcounts for specific windows (e.g., January–May 2025) but do not produce a single, agency‑certified full‑year 2025 total in the reporting provided [1] [2].
3. Best available numeric answer and its limits
The most concrete published headcount in the supplied reporting is the Marshall Project’s estimate: of the more than 120,000 deportations between January and May 2025, about one‑third — roughly 40,000 people — had criminal convictions [1]. That is the most directly supported numerical statement in the cited coverage; however, none of the provided sources supplies an authoritative, published figure for convicted noncitizens deported during the entire calendar year 2025, so extrapolating to a full‑year total requires assumptions about enforcement tempo and seasonality that the current sources do not justify [2].
4. Contrasting interpretations and what they reveal about reporting agendas
Administration spokespeople and DHS emphasize that most ICE actions target people with convictions or pending charges — a framing repeated by the department — while independent analysts and news outlets repeatedly find the opposite in the available data for 2025 windows: a larger share had no convictions and many convicted deportees held minor or traffic offenses [6] [1] [4]. This divergence reflects competing agendas: the agency’s political defense of enforcement priorities versus watchdogs’ efforts to highlight collateral arrests and the expansion of removals beyond “the worst of the worst” [6] [4].
5. Bottom line for a reader seeking a firm count
There is no single cited source in the provided reporting that gives a definitive, government‑published number of noncitizens with criminal convictions deported by ICE for the full 2025 calendar year; the clearest evidence in the sources shows about 40,000 convicted noncitizens deported from January through May 2025 (Marshall Project) and multiple analyses indicate convicted people were a minority of deportations across much of 2025 [1] [4] [2]. Any attempt to state a precise 2025 year‑end figure from these materials would require additional ICE year‑end release or consolidated Deportation Data Project totals not included among the sources provided [2] [3].