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Can ICE detain immigrants with no criminal history or only minor offenses for extended periods?
Executive summary
Yes — available reporting and government documents show ICE has been detaining large numbers of people who have no criminal convictions or only minor offenses, and many have been held for extended periods as the agency’s detention population surged to record levels in 2025 (e.g., ICE held nearly 60,000 people as of Sept. 21, 2025; 71–71.5% had no criminal conviction) [1] [2] [3]. Coverage also shows legal challenges and criticism over conditions and lengthy confinement even where detainees lack serious criminal histories [4] [5].
1. What the numbers show: a majority without convictions, large detention totals
Federal and independent data cited in recent reporting indicate ICE’s detained population grew sharply in 2025 and that a large share lacked criminal convictions: ICE and monitoring groups reported roughly 59,000–60,000 people in custody in late summer/early fall 2025, and Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) and other analyses put the share without criminal convictions at about 71–71.5% of that population [1] [2] [3] [5]. Those figures mean tens of thousands in ICE custody had either no criminal conviction or only minor past offenses such as traffic violations [2] [3].
2. How “minor offenses” are described in coverage
Reporting and agency categorizations show the label “convicted criminal” in ICE data can include a wide range of offenses — from serious felonies to very minor violations like traffic infractions, fishing without a permit, or a broken taillight — which complicates public understanding of who is being detained [6]. Independent projects have also highlighted that many people deported in 2025 had only minor offenses from years earlier or no criminal record [7].
3. Extended detention: evidence and explanations
Multiple outlets and data projects document prolonged detention as ICE expanded capacity: the agency’s average daily population rose to record highs in 2025 and reporting links that increase to longer stays, backlogs, and more community arrests that can produce “collateral” detentions [1] [7] [5]. Legal developments and advocacy lawsuits, such as class-action litigation over conditions at newly opened facilities, underscore that people without serious criminal histories are nonetheless being held for significant periods [4].
4. ICE rules, oversight, and stated exceptions
ICE’s public materials — including its 2025 National Detention Standards and detention-management pages — outline detention standards, compliance reviews, and exceptions for vulnerable populations (e.g., minors, pregnant people, those who are ill), indicating there is an official framework supposed to govern who is detained and how facilities operate [8] [9] [10]. Available sources do not provide granular, case-by-case rules in these summaries about maximum allowed detention durations for people with no criminal history; they describe standards and oversight but not a simple rule that prohibits extended detention for those groups [9] [10].
5. Competing narratives: enforcement priorities vs. oversight critics
Department of Homeland Security spokespeople and some agency statements emphasize ICE’s focus on public-safety risks and highlight arrests of serious offenders, while independent reporting and data projects document that, in practice, the detained population in 2025 skews toward people without convictions or with minor offenses — a point critics use to argue policy is detaining many who pose little public-safety risk [11] [5] [3]. DHS rhetoric about “criminal illegal aliens” exists alongside data showing most detainees had no conviction, a discrepancy that feeds political and legal disputes [11] [5].
6. Human-cost reporting and legal pressure
Journalistic investigations and lawsuits describe harsh conditions, deaths in custody, and legal challenges tied to the detention surge; those stories note the human and legal consequences of detaining large numbers for extended periods — including people with no or minor criminal histories — and have prompted litigation and increased scrutiny of facilities [4] [1]. Reporting also ties the expansion to substantial funding increases and reliance on nontraditional or private facilities, amplifying concerns about oversight [3] [4].
7. Limitations and what sources don’t say
Available sources document aggregate trends, policy statements, litigation, and standards, but do not provide a simple statutory line that says “ICE may/ may not detain X for Y days” for every category of non‑convicted person; individual detention lengths vary by case, legal process backlogs, and administrative discretion, and detailed case-level rules are not laid out in the summaries provided here [9] [10]. For specifics about a particular case or precise detention-time limits, available sources do not mention those individualized details.
Bottom line: reporting and ICE materials in 2025 show large-scale detention that includes many people with no criminal convictions or only minor offenses, and that these people have in practice been held for extended periods amid a rapid expansion of detention capacity and growing legal and public scrutiny [1] [2] [3] [4].