ICE arrests
Executive summary
ICE arrests have surged in 2025–2026 amid a major agency expansion and a shift in tactics, producing competing narratives: the Department of Homeland Security portrays most arrests as targeting “the worst of the worst” with a high percentage of criminal convictions [1] [2], while independent trackers and local reporting show large growth in interior arrests, many detainees without U.S. convictions, and rising deaths in custody [3] [4] [5].
1. What the raw numbers show
Independent datasets compiled by TRAC and the Deportation Data Project capture a steep rise in encounters, arrests and detention beds: ICE reported tens of thousands booked into detention in single months in late 2025, and TRAC counted 36,635 ICE arrests (plus 4,989 by CBP) among 41,624 booked into detention in October 2025 [6], while ICE’s own statistics and public dashboards provide longitudinal arrest and detention data used by researchers [3] [7].
2. The administration’s framing: “worst of the worst”
DHS and ICE communications in early January 2026 emphasize that a large share of recent arrests have criminal histories — repeatedly stating that roughly 70% of arrests were of people with U.S. charges or convictions — and celebrate expanded hiring (more than 12,000 new officers and a claimed 120% manpower increase) as enabling removals of violent offenders, sex offenders, traffickers and murderers [1] [8] [9] [10].
3. Independent and local reporting complicates the 70% claim
Local analyses and nonpartisan trackers show variation by field office and that many detained people lack criminal convictions in the United States: a Dallas Morning News analysis and Utah reporting both document that a substantial share of arrests did not involve U.S. convictions in specific areas even while noting a high percentage with charges or pending cases in some datasets [11] [12], and TRAC reported that as of late November 2025 ICE held 65,735 people with roughly 73.6% without criminal convictions according to a snapshot [6].
4. A tactical shift: at-large arrests and interior enforcement
Reporting in The Washington Post and field dashboards indicates ICE moved away from primarily arresting people at local jails toward tracking people in communities — a change that increases “at-large” interior arrests and intensifies enforcement visibility in workplaces, airports and neighborhoods [13] [12], a tactic made possible by new funding and hiring noted in congressional allocations and reporting [14].
5. Detention growth and human cost
The enforcement surge has coincided with record detention populations and deadly outcomes: Migration Policy documented a rapid climb from roughly 39,000 detainees in January 2025 to levels that could exceed 100,000 by January 2026, and multiple outlets recorded 32 deaths in ICE custody in 2025 — the agency’s deadliest year in over two decades — underscoring consequences beyond arrests themselves [4] [5].
6. Where reporting diverges and what remains uncertain
Official DHS messaging stresses criminality and public-safety impacts [1] [9], while nonpartisan databases and local news point to a more mixed picture in which many detained people lack U.S. criminal convictions and detention numbers have swelled [6] [3] [11]. Available sources do not uniformly reconcile definitions (charged vs. convicted, criminal history abroad, INTERPOL notices) or give a single national breakdown locked and audited for FY 2026, so precise national percentages remain contested across jurisdictions [3] [7].
7. Bottom line: arrests have increased, but the composition and consequences are debated
The factual spine is clear: ICE arrests and detention expanded sharply in 2025–2026 amid new hires and funding [10] [14], enforcement shifted toward at-large interior operations [13], and independent data show many detainees lacked U.S. convictions even as DHS highlights arrests of serious offenders [6] [1] [11]; reconciling these threads requires continued transparency in ICE’s raw data releases and careful local analysis [7] [3].