What percentage of ICE agents have prior criminal convictions compared to other federal law enforcement agencies?
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Executive summary
ICE booking and detention data show a large majority of people in ICE custody during late 2025 had no prior criminal conviction—multiple analyses put the share without convictions at roughly 70–74% (for example, TRAC and Cato report ~73.6% and ~73%) [1] [2]. Independent news analyses and national reporting also find that less than 30% of those arrested in recent ICE operations had been convicted of a crime [3] [4].
1. The headline numbers: ICE detentions are overwhelmingly people without convictions
Recent datasets and independent analyses indicate that roughly three in four people ICE detained in late 2025 had no prior criminal conviction. TRAC’s snapshot reports 48,377 of 65,735 people held in ICE detention—73.6%—had no criminal conviction as of Nov. 30, 2025 [1]. Cato Institute reporting and outlets citing it give a similar figure—about 73%—for people booked into ICE custody in the fall of 2025 [2]. Major news outlets’ analysis of ICE operations separately found “less than 30 percent” of people arrested in several federal deployments had prior convictions [3].
2. How reporters and researchers derived those percentages
The figures above come from ICE booking and detention records analyzed by researchers and think tanks and from an internal ICE dataset disclosed in litigation and analyzed by news organizations. TRAC compiled detention totals and criminal‑history flags to calculate the 73.6% no‑conviction share [1]. Cato’s report likewise used ICE booking data and FOIA materials to conclude roughly 73% had no conviction [2]. The New York Times and NBC examined ICE’s operational arrest datasets through Oct. 15 and the first nine months of the administration, respectively, to show the share with convictions had fallen and that many arrests captured people with no criminal histories [3] [4].
3. Comparing ICE to “other federal law enforcement agencies”: available sources do not mention direct agency‑to‑agency percentages
Available sources do not provide a side‑by‑side percentage comparison of the share of officers with prior criminal convictions at ICE versus other federal law enforcement agencies, nor a direct comparison of detained/arrested populations’ conviction rates across federal agencies. The supplied reporting focuses on the criminal histories of people arrested or detained by ICE, not on the personnel records of ICE or other agencies [1] [3] [2]. Therefore, a direct numerical comparison—as asked in the original query—cannot be made from the current materials.
4. What the reporting does compare: ICE’s arrests/detention mix over time and by operation
Reporting documents a sharp decline in the share of ICE arrestees who had prior convictions during 2025. The New York Times’ analysis shows the share fell to 28% by mid‑October from 46% earlier in the year [3]. Stateline and other outlets tracked a similar trend: operations tied to federal deployments and domestic crackdowns produced many arrests of people without convictions, with one piece noting a period when only 3% of detainees had convictions in a narrow window [5] [3]. NBC, People and others also reported that more than a third of roughly 220,000 people arrested in the first nine months of the administration had no criminal histories [4] [6].
5. What these numbers do—and don’t—reveal about seriousness of offenses
The sources note most people who did have convictions were for non‑violent or low‑level offenses (traffic, immigration-related offenses), and only a small fraction had violent convictions (about 5% violent in some Cato analyses) [2] [7]. News analyses stress the data often do not distinguish between minor and major prior convictions in publicly released summaries, limiting the ability to assess whether operations were focused on serious criminal threats [3] [2].
6. Potential explanations, incentives, and competing narratives in the coverage
Researchers and civil‑liberties groups argue the numbers show mass deportation efforts sweep up many people without criminal histories and challenge administration claims it targets the “worst of the worst” [4] [2]. Administration and ICE messaging—cited in press releases highlighting arrests of convicted criminals—frames operations as focused on criminal threats, but independent data show large numbers of non‑convicted arrestees as well [8] [3]. Some sources note operational reliance on local jails and policies that expand how arrests are coded (e.g., “Custodial Arrests”), which affects how counts and categories appear in ICE’s public data [9].
7. Limitations and what further data would resolve
The current reporting is robust about the conviction status of people arrested or detained by ICE but contains no information in these sources on personnel backgrounds across federal law enforcement agencies or on standardized, audit‑quality comparisons between agencies. To answer the original personnel‑focused question definitively, one would need vetted staffing/background‑check datasets from multiple agencies—data not present in these sources [1] [2].
8. Bottom line
Available reporting is clear that a substantial majority of people in ICE custody in late 2025 had no prior criminal conviction—around 70–74% in multiple analyses [1] [2]—and that fewer than 30% of arrests in certain operations had prior convictions [3]. A direct comparison of percentages of ICE agents (staff) with prior criminal convictions versus other federal law‑enforcement agencies is not found in the supplied sources; that specific personnel comparison remains unanswered by current reporting (not found in current reporting).