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What is the most common felony conviction among detained immigrants?
Executive summary
Available reporting and public-agency data show that traffic- and driving-related offenses (including DUI and non‑civil traffic offenses such as hit‑and‑run) and driving under the influence are repeatedly identified as among the single most common criminal convictions associated with immigrants arrested or detained by immigration authorities (ICE and Border Patrol) [1] [2]. However, multiple sources also emphasize that a large share of people in ICE custody have no criminal convictions at all, and that profiles vary over time and by dataset, so there is no single definitive national answer in the current reporting [3] [4] [5].
1. Traffic and DUI convictions top many ICE and Border Patrol lists
Federal agency summaries and independent research repeatedly name driving‑related crimes — broadly described as DUI and certain criminal traffic offenses (for example, hit‑and‑run or leaving the scene) — as the most common criminal convictions among people ICE has arrested over time [1] [2]. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection “Criminal Alien Statistics” also breaks down convictions by type and is the agency source for conviction-category tallies, which aligns with ICE’s own historical description that DUI and non‑civil traffic offenses are among the most frequent convictions [6] [1].
2. Context: many detained immigrants have no conviction or only minor offenses
Recent reporting and independent analyses stress that a plurality — and in some snapshots a majority — of people held in immigration detention lack criminal convictions. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) and news outlets report that roughly 70–72% of those held in ICE custody in 2025 had no criminal conviction, and Cato’s analysis of ICE data reached similar conclusions [3] [4] [7] [5]. Migration Policy Institute reporting also documents that many detained migrants have no convictions, complicating efforts to characterize “the most common felony conviction” among the detained population as a single dominant category [8].
3. Different datasets, different focal populations produce different answers
What counts as “most common” depends on which group you measure: ICE arrestees, Border Patrol “criminal aliens,” federally sentenced non‑U.S. citizens, or immigrants on non‑detained dockets. For example, Pew’s analysis of 2017 ICE arrestees found DUI to be the most common prior conviction among ICE arrestees with convictions (16% of recorded convictions) [2]. By contrast, the United States Sentencing Commission’s quick facts on federally sentenced non‑U.S. citizens lists immigration offenses and drug trafficking as leading sentencing guideline categories — a different population and legal context than administrative detention or local arrests [9].
4. Felony vs. misdemeanor and “seriousness” matter for interpretation
Migration Policy’s historical analysis distinguishes felony convictions from serious misdemeanors and finds hundreds of thousands of unauthorized immigrants with felony convictions in longer‑term estimates of the population with criminal records; it also notes many convictions are for less severe offenses [10] [8]. That means even when traffic/DUI appears as the single most common category, many such convictions can be misdemeanors or non‑violent offenses rather than the violent felonies often emphasized in political rhetoric [10] [1].
5. Competing narratives: enforcement priorities vs. population reality
DHS and ICE officials frame enforcement as focused on “the worst of the worst,” highlighting convicted violent offenders; watchdog groups, think tanks and news outlets point to agency data showing most detainees lack convictions and that convictions among those arrested are disproportionately non‑violent [7] [4] [5]. For example, ICE’s own historical characterization names DUI and drug‑possession as frequent convictions, while commentators and think tanks emphasize the large share with no convictions and the predominance of non‑violent offenses among those who are convicted [1] [4].
6. What the available sources do not settle
Available sources do not provide a single, current nationwide tally that both (a) restricts the universe to only detained immigrants who have felony convictions and (b) breaks those felonies down by type in a way that would allow an unequivocal statement of “the most common felony conviction among detained immigrants” for 2025 or 2026. Instead, agency summaries and research show driving‑related offenses (including DUI and criminal traffic offenses) are repeatedly the top single category among convicted cohorts, but significant caveats about differing populations, timeframes, and the large number without convictions apply [1] [2] [3].
Bottom line: If you measure convictions among immigrant arrestees with criminal records, driving‑related offenses — especially DUI and criminal traffic offenses — appear most frequently in the public reporting and agency summaries [1] [2]. If you measure the entire detained population, most people currently in ICE custody have no criminal conviction, which changes how meaningful that “most common felony” label becomes [3] [4] [5].