What share of ICE detainees in FY2026 had violent convictions versus non-violent or no convictions, by independent datasets?
Executive summary
Independent analyses of mid-FY2026 detention data diverge, but converge on a clear pattern: a small minority of ICE detainees are recorded as having violent convictions while large majorities are classified as having no criminal conviction or only immigration violations; for example, Cato’s read of ICE’s public dataset put violent convictions near 5% and those with no convictions near 69–73% [1] [2], while DHS-internal summaries cited by major outlets count roughly 47% of the total detained population as having a criminal charge or conviction and therefore imply the complement — about half — lack U.S. criminal charges or convictions [3].
1. Cato and allied independent reads: very low share with violent convictions
Analysts at Cato and commentators who parsed ICE’s public two‑week snapshots report that roughly 5% of people in ICE custody had convictions for violent crimes and that roughly three‑quarters had no criminal conviction on their U.S. record — figures repeated across Cato writeups and independent posts summarizing ICE’s public sheet as of late 2025 [1] [2] [4].
2. TRAC and other independent trackers: broad non‑criminal share but different emphases
TRAC’s detention dashboards and other independent trackers document a surge in detainees categorized as “immigration violators” (no known criminal conviction or pending U.S. charge) and show facility‑level averages and booking totals that corroborate large absolute numbers of non‑criminal detainees in FY2026, though TRAC’s public tables emphasize counts by category rather than a single consolidated nationwide violent‑conviction percentage [5] [6].
3. ICE/DHS internal figures and mainstream reporting: higher criminal‑history share by another counting method
Reporting based on DHS internal briefings and ICE’s broader population snapshots produced a different headline: about 47% of the overall detained population had either criminal charges or convictions in the U.S., a figure CBS reported from DHS data, and DHS officials argued that a majority of people arrested by ICE since the start of the latest enforcement surge had criminal charges or convictions — a statistic that applies to arrests rather than the standing custody cohort and therefore yields a different share of “non‑criminal” detainees [3].
4. Why datasets disagree: definitions, cohorts and timing
The divergence traces to three methodological fault lines documented in ICE’s own descriptors and in analysts’ critiques: (a) whether the metric is “people ICE arrested since X date” versus “people currently in ICE custody” (ICE two‑week snapshots), (b) whether the category counts convictions only, pending charges, or immigration reentry/administrative violations (ICE defines categories differently and labels immigration fugitives separately), and (c) whether counts include non‑ICE arrests transferred from CBP; those choices shift the violent‑conviction share from low single digits in conviction‑only reads to higher shares when pending charges and historical foreign convictions are folded in [7] [8].
5. Synthesis and best current estimate with caveats
Bringing the independent datasets together: conviction‑only readings of ICE’s public custody snapshots put violent convictions at approximately 5% of detained individuals and non‑convicted (or only immigration‑violation) detainees at roughly 65–73% [1] [2], while DHS internal tallies that emphasize arrests or include pending charges place the proportion with some criminal charge or conviction closer to half of the detained population (about 47%) — implying roughly 53% lack a U.S. criminal charge or conviction under that count [3]. All sources underline the same reality that estimates depend on definitional choices and the reporting window; ICE’s public methodology descriptions and independent trackers make those limitations explicit [7] [6].