What percentage of ICE detainees are legal permanent residents versus noncitizens?
Executive summary
Available sources do not provide a single, clear percentage split of ICE detainees who are legal permanent residents (LPRs) versus other noncitizens; ICE and reporting focus on “detained individuals” or “noncitizens,” not a consistent public breakdown by immigration status such as LPR versus other noncitizen categories (not found in current reporting). Reporting and datasets emphasize that most people in ICE custody are noncitizens transferred from CBP and that large shares of recent arrests had no criminal convictions — for example, TRAC reports 47,964 of 65,135 detained people (73.6%) had no criminal conviction as of Nov. 16, 2025 [1], and The New York Times analysis shows the share of detainees with convictions fell to about 28% by mid-October from 46% earlier [2].
1. Why the direct LPR vs. noncitizen percentage isn’t in the records
Federal reporting from ICE and the public datasets cited in available sources classify detainees as “aliens,” “detained individuals,” or by custody-management metrics rather than routinely publishing a clean, up-to-date share who are lawful permanent residents versus other noncitizen categories; the ICE statistics page explains the detained population is diverse and largely comes from CBP transfers but does not give that LPR split [3]. TRAC and media analyses focus on conviction status and total detained population counts, not a public LPR-versus-other breakdown [1] [2].
2. What the available numbers do show about who ICE is detaining
Concrete recent figures show ICE held 65,135 people in detention (TRAC’s snapshot) and that 73.6% of those had no criminal conviction as of Nov. 16, 2025 (47,964 of 65,135) — a statistic TRAC highlights to characterize the detained population [1]. The New York Times’ large-scale data analysis likewise documents that the share of people in ICE custody with criminal convictions dropped to roughly 28% by mid-October, from 46% earlier in the administration, indicating a recent shift toward detaining more people without criminal records [2].
3. How journalists and analysts are slicing the data instead
Because a clean LPR vs. non-LPR breakdown is not in the cited materials, watchdogs and newsrooms have concentrated on other measurable attributes: total detainee counts, whether detainees have criminal convictions, daily arrest rates, and where detainees are housed. For example, Axios reports ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations has been averaging roughly 1,100 arrests per day in recent weeks, using FOIA data from the Deportation Data Project, highlighting scale rather than immigration-category composition [4]. TRAC’s public tables and ICE statistics present custody totals and facility distributions rather than LPR status [5] [3].
4. Competing narratives in the sources
The New York Times and TRAC emphasize the growing share of people detained who lack criminal convictions, suggesting enforcement is sweeping beyond convicted noncitizens [2] [1]. By contrast, ICE’s institutional materials and statements focus on legal obligations and detention standards — noting many detainees are transfers from CBP and that detention is sometimes legally required for certain criminal histories — framing detention as enforcement of existing immigration law rather than broad targeting [3] [6]. DHS public messaging disputes claims that U.S. citizens are being deported and stresses training and standards, though that statement addresses different allegations [7].
5. What a credible answer would require that sources don’t supply
To state a reliable percentage of ICE detainees who are LPRs versus other noncitizens requires either an ICE-published breakdown by immigration status (citizen, LPR, visa-holder, undocumented, parolee, etc.) in their detention statistics or an independent dataset (FOIA-extracted or research database) that codes each detainee’s status. Available sources do not provide that specific breakdown; therefore a precise LPR-versus-noncitizen percentage is not reported in the materials provided (not found in current reporting).
6. Practical context and why the distinction matters
The policy and legal consequences differ sharply depending on status: lawful permanent residents have narrower grounds for removal and different avenues of relief than undocumented migrants, while many enforcement actions hinge on criminal convictions or statutory detention requirements [3]. The shift toward detaining more people without convictions, documented by TRAC and the NYT, changes the policy debate and public perception even if the exact LPR share is unknown [1] [2].
Limitations: this analysis uses only the supplied sources and therefore cannot supplement with external ICE datasets or scholarly counts that might provide the exact LPR percentage (limitation noted; not found in current reporting).