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Fact check: How has the percent of ice detainees with non-immigration criminal charges changed over the last four administrations?

Checked on July 17, 2025

1. Summary of the results

Based on the available analyses, there is insufficient data to provide a comprehensive comparison of ICE detainees with non-immigration criminal charges across the last four administrations. However, the sources do reveal significant current statistics about the composition of ICE detention populations.

Current detention statistics show:

  • 71.7% of people detained by ICE as of June 29 had no criminal convictions [1]
  • 65% of people processed into the ICE system since the start of fiscal year 2025 had no criminal convictions [1]
  • Roughly 8% of all detainees had been convicted of violent crimes [2]
  • About 40% had criminal convictions overall, with the majority not being for violent offenses [2]

The data indicates that immigrants with no criminal convictions represent the sharpest growth in ICE detention population, with about half the people in detention lacking criminal convictions, and this segment has grown the most in recent months [3].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The analyses reveal several critical gaps in addressing the original question:

  • No historical comparison data across the Obama, Trump, Biden, and current Trump administrations is provided in any of the sources
  • Limited policy context - while sources mention Trump administration efforts to detain migrant children and families [4], there's no comparative analysis of how detention priorities shifted between administrations
  • Lack of trend analysis - the sources focus primarily on current snapshots rather than longitudinal changes in detention composition

Alternative perspectives that could benefit from current narratives:

  • Immigration enforcement agencies may benefit from emphasizing criminal conviction statistics to justify detention policies
  • Immigration advocacy groups would likely highlight the high percentage of non-criminal detainees to argue against current detention practices
  • Political administrations could selectively use these statistics to either defend or criticize detention policies depending on their stance

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original question itself does not contain misinformation, but it assumes the existence of readily available comparative data that the analyses suggest may not be publicly accessible or systematically tracked across administrations.

Key limitations in available information:

  • The question seeks specific percentage changes over four administrations, but the sources primarily provide current snapshot data rather than historical trends
  • Definitional clarity issues - the distinction between "non-immigration criminal charges" and other categories may not be consistently tracked or reported across different time periods
  • Data availability concerns - one source mentions "nonpublic data" [1], suggesting that comprehensive historical comparisons may require access to internal government datasets not readily available for public analysis

The Trump administration's plan to hire 10,000 deportation officers and expand ICE capacity to hold more than 100,000 detainees [5] indicates significant policy shifts that could dramatically alter future detention statistics, but historical comparison data remains elusive in the provided analyses.

Want to dive deeper?
What percentage of ICE detainees have felony convictions?
How has the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy affected ICE detainee demographics?
What are the most common non-immigration crimes committed by ICE detainees?
How does the Biden administration's approach to ICE detention differ from the Obama administration's?
What role do ICE's Priority Enforcement Programs play in targeting detainees with non-immigration criminal charges?