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Fact check: What percent of immigrants detained by ICE have no convictions? How many with only minor offenses?
Executive Summary
Government and investigative datasets assembled in late summer and September 2025 show that a substantial majority of people in ICE custody lack criminal convictions; one compilation reports 71.5% of detainees without convictions, while other high-profile analyses find roughly two-thirds of recent deportees had no criminal record. Different datasets and reporting windows produce varying counts of those with only minor offenses, but multiple sources indicate a notable share of detentions and removals involve low-level infractions such as traffic violations and unlawful entry [1] [2] [3]. These findings must be read against differing time frames, definitions, and institutional agendas.
1. Numbers that jump out: majority without convictions, but watch the definitions
The clearest numerical claim in the available analyses is that 71.5% of current ICE detainees had no criminal convictions, with a cited raw count of 42,755 out of 59,762 detainees [1]. That representation treats “no criminal conviction” as a binary category, but does not fully explain whether pending charges, administrative infractions, or prior conduct were counted separately. Another government-focused summary used a different snapshot and reported 16,523 detainees with no criminal history, suggesting that reporting windows and classification choices dramatically change headline percentages [4] [5]. These discrepancies underline that numbers are sensitive to timing and methodology.
2. Deportations tell a parallel but not identical story: two-thirds without convictions
Independent reporting from The Marshall Project analyzed deportations rather than current detention and concluded that about two-thirds of the over 120,000 people deported between January and May 2025 had no criminal convictions, with roughly 12% convicted of violent or potentially violent crimes and 8% having only illegal entry on record [2]. That dataset focuses on removals over a specific multi-month span and highlights how enforcement priorities and case selection differ from a daily snapshot of detention populations. The Marshall Project’s analysis also emphasized the rise of deportations for minor infractions, signaling shifts in operational focus [3].
3. Who counts as “minor offense”? Traffic tickets and unlawful entry figure prominently
Both the investigative and government summaries single out traffic violations and unlawful entry as common low-level records among those detained or deported. The Marshall Project noted that deportations where traffic violations were the most serious conviction have tripled over six months, with over 1,800 people deported for such offenses in the referenced year [3]. Similarly, the ICE snapshot labeled many convicted detainees as having only minor offenses without granular breakdowns, leaving room for interpretation about severity and public-safety implications [1]. The variance in labeling shows how “minor” can be defined administratively or legally.
4. Data timing and scope create apparent contradictions that are methodological, not purely factual
The disparate headline figures—71.5% without convictions in one snapshot versus 16,523 reported no-criminal-history in another—stem from different two-week versus monthly or multi-month windows, detainee versus deportee populations, and whether pending charges are included [1] [5] [4]. One source explicitly notes its figures cover a two-week September period; another aggregates across a larger rolling population. These methodological choices change denominators and classifications, so comparisons across sources require aligning the scope, time frame, and definitions before concluding which figure best represents “typical” ICE populations.
5. Sources show different incentives and potential agendas that shape presentation
The government-curated snapshots and summaries aim to present operational statistics and may emphasize trends in either direction depending on internal priorities; investigative outlets like The Marshall Project frame numbers to highlight policy consequences and enforcement shifts [1] [2]. Some items in the provided analyses appear to be non substantive or meta-content (privacy policies), flagged as irrelevant, which underscores the need to triage and contextualize source material when compiling claims [6]. Readers should weigh institutional motives when interpreting headline percentages.
6. What is reliably supported: a substantial share are non-convicted or low-level cases
Across datasets examined here, despite methodological differences, the consistent pattern is that a substantial share—on the order of multiple tens of percent to a clear majority—of people in ICE custody or recently deported lack felony or violent criminal convictions, and many of the convictions cited as “most serious” were low-level such as traffic offenses or unlawful entry [1] [2] [3]. This cross-source convergence strengthens the conclusion that enforcement actions increasingly involve individuals without serious criminal histories, even as exact percentages vary by dataset.
7. Missing detail and what to ask next to sharpen the picture
Key missing elements prevent an airtight single-number answer: consistent definitions of “no criminal conviction,” clear separation of pending charges from convictions, disaggregated counts for specific minor offenses, and standardized time frames that align detention and deportation datasets. To refine estimates, one should request raw line-level ICE detention and removal records for a defined period, with fields for conviction type, pending charges, and most serious offense, and then re-tabulate using consistent inclusion rules [1] [5] [2]. Those steps will reconcile snapshots into a single comparable metric.