What percentage of ICE captures are violent criminals
Executive summary
The share of people taken into ICE custody who have violent criminal convictions is small: independent analyses put that figure around 5–8 percent, while broader DHS messaging claims a much higher share when pending charges and nonviolent offenses are included (DHS asserts 70% with convictions or pending charges) [1] [2] [3]. The discrepancy stems from differing definitions—convictions vs. pending charges vs. any criminal history—and from agency framing that highlights selected categories and anecdotes [4] [5].
1. What the headline numbers actually measure
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE have publicly said the agency is targeting “the worst of the worst,” and DHS spokespeople tout figures like “70% of undocumented immigrants ICE arrested across the US have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges,” a statistic that mixes convictions and pending charges and therefore cannot be equated directly with proven violent criminals [3] [5]. Independent researchers and watchdogs instead parse ICE booking data and consistently show a much smaller share of violent criminal convictions among those in custody—Cato’s analysis finds about 5% with violent convictions and roughly 65% with no criminal conviction at all during a recent reporting period [1] [6].
2. Independent analyses and watchdog counts
Multiple outside organizations reach similar conclusions: the Brennan Center cites Cato’s work concluding roughly 7% were convicted of violent offenses and that about 65% had no criminal record, while TRAC’s tally shows roughly 73.6% of detained people had no criminal conviction as of late November 2025 [2] [7]. Local and national outlets that rely on these data report that, while ICE is arresting many people with criminal histories, the subset with violent convictions is a small minority of the detained population [8] [6].
3. Why DHS and ICE numbers can look bigger
ICE’s public statements and press releases often cite combined categories—convictions plus pending charges plus immigration violations referred to as “criminal illegal aliens”—and highlight specific high-profile violent removals, which inflates the impression that most apprehensions are violent offenders [3] [9]. ICE’s own statistical pages note that its Enforcement and Removal Operations arrest a mix including DUI, drug possession, assault, and many administrative immigration violators, meaning the “criminal” label covers a wide gamut from traffic offenses to violent felonies [4].
4. Recent changes and how they affect percentages
Shifts in enforcement priorities and a rapid expansion of interior arrests since October 2024 have driven large growth in detentions of people without convictions—analysts report that much of the FY2026 detention growth comes from non-criminal detainees, which lowers the share of detainees with violent convictions even if the absolute number of violent-conviction arrests rises [10] [11]. That dynamic helps explain why DHS can claim more criminal arrests while independent tallies show declining percentages of violent-conviction cases [2].
5. Data limits, caveats and contested categories
Available public data have important limits: counts vary by timeframe, whether they include pending charges, whether convictions refer to U.S. convictions only (DHS sometimes references foreign warrants or INTERPOL notices separately), and how ICE classifies immigration vs. criminal offenses—analysts warn the agency’s narrative relies on blended categories and anecdotes, and that ICE has not fully published the underlying, disaggregated data supporting broader claims [5] [4] [10].
6. Bottom line—what percentage are violent criminals?
Across the public and independent analyses in the available reporting, the percentage of people in ICE custody with U.S. violent criminal convictions is in the single digits—commonly reported as about 5% (Cato) to roughly 7–8% in other analyses—whereas DHS’s 70% figure reflects convictions plus pending charges and broader criminal-history claims that are not limited to proven violent convictions [1] [2] [3].