What are the most common reasons for ICE arrests in 2025?
Executive summary
ICE arrests in 2025 were driven by a mix of traditional criminal-history enforcement and a dramatic expansion of so‑called administrative arrests targeting people without criminal convictions, with enforcement volumes soaring to roughly 1,000–1,100 arrests per day and detentions reaching record highs by year‑end [1] [2] [3]. The pattern reflects policy directives, new surveillance tools, and deep variation tied to state and local cooperation with federal authorities, producing sharp disagreements between ICE/DHS claims that they target the “worst of the worst” and independent data showing large shares of non‑criminal arrests [4] [5] [6].
1. Criminal convictions remain a common—though shrinking—basis for arrests
Historically and still in 2025, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations has focused on people with criminal records—DUI, drug possession, assault and non‑civil traffic offenses are repeatedly cited as common conviction types that lead to ICE arrests [7]—and DHS and ICE repeatedly framed recent operations as apprehending violent offenders and serious criminals [4] [5].
2. A major surge of administrative arrests of people with no criminal convictions
Independent analyses and ICE FOIA releases document that an unprecedented share of people arrested or detained in 2025 had no criminal conviction, with some datasets showing 70% of deported people lacking a criminal conviction and other trackers finding roughly 73% of people in custody had no conviction at a snapshot in late 2025 [6] [3]. Non‑criminal arrests—“at‑large” street arrests, roving patrols, workplace raids and re‑arrests at check‑ins or court—accounted for much of the year’s increase [8].
3. Geography and local cooperation shape where arrests happen
ICE arrest volumes were unevenly distributed: the Deportation Data Project and related reporting show more than 1,000 arrests a day concentrated in states and localities that fully collaborate with the administration, and nearly half of arrests occurred out of local jails and lock‑ups—meaning local booking practices and detainer cooperation materially affect who ICE can arrest [9] [10]. State and municipal policy choices therefore act as force multipliers for federal enforcement [9].
4. Policy directives, quotas and agency priorities drove higher enforcement levels
Shifts in White House and DHS priorities in 2025 led to rapid increases in arrest targets and operational tactics—reporting ties policy pressure to spikes in arrests and internal pushes for higher daily arrest targets—while advocacy groups say the administration’s renewed mass‑deportation agenda directly caused the swell in non‑criminal arrests [9] [1] [8]. DHS and ICE dispute characterizations that they are indiscriminately targeting non‑criminals, arguing operational outcomes reflect a focus on serious criminals [5] [4].
5. New surveillance and data tools expanded ICE’s reach
Contracting for location, phone, social‑media and other surveillance technologies in 2025 increased ICE’s ability to identify and locate targets, a development watchdogs say helped enable both criminal and administrative arrests even as it raised civil‑liberties alarms [11]. ICE’s larger 2025 budget and equipment purchases also coincided with a broad expansion of detention capacity and new arrest methods [11] [8].
6. Data gaps and contested narratives complicate a definitive tally
Public ICE statistics and FOIA dumps (via the Deportation Data Project) permit analysis of volumes, locations and some offense types, but reporting gaps remain: ICE’s own site summarizes common historical arrest types but detailed, fully‑coded national offense breakdowns for all 2025 arrests are dispersed across FOIA releases and third‑party datasets [7] [10]. As a result, authoritative characterizations of “most common reasons” must balance ICE/DHS claims of criminal‑targeting [5] [4] against independent analyses showing large increases in non‑criminal administrative arrests and heavy dependence on local cooperation [6] [9].