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More than one-third of the roughly 220,000 people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the first nine months of the Trump administration had no criminal history, according to newly released internal data that offers one of the clearest views yet of the government’s expanded immigration enforcement strategy.
The figures, covering arrests from Jan. 20 to Oct. 15, show that nearly 75,000 people without criminal records were taken into custody, despite President Donald Trump and senior officials repeatedly saying the administration’s focus would be on detaining murderers, rapists and gang members.
“It contradicts what the administration has been saying about people who are convicted criminals and that they are going after the worst of the worst,” said Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute.
The data, obtained by the University of California, Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project through a lawsuit against ICE, includes arrest, detention and removal information compiled by an internal office within the agency. The administration stopped publishing detailed arrest breakdowns in January.
Criminal histories undefined
Among those arrested who did have criminal records, the data does not distinguish between people convicted of minor offenses and those found guilty of serious crimes such as homicide or sexual assault — categories the administration has cited as its primary targets.
The new numbers also exclude arrests made by U.S. Border Patrol, which has expanded its immigration enforcement activities into several major cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Charlotte, with active operations underway this week in New Orleans. Border Patrol and ICE operate separately under the Department of Homeland Security, and arrests by Border Patrol are not reflected in the ICE dataset.
“That is the black box that we know nothing about,” Ruiz Soto said. “How many arrests is Border Patrol doing? How many of those are leading to removals and under what conditions?”
A Homeland Security spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Pressure to increase arrests
ICE field offices have faced sustained pressure from the White House to escalate operations. In mid-May, senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller warned top ICE leadership that they could be fired if they did not begin making at least 3,000 arrests per day, NBC News previously reported.
The internal records indicate ICE remains well below that mark, averaging 824 daily arrests since Trump took office. By comparison, the agency averaged 312 arrests per day during the Biden administration in 2024.
The dataset also shows that roughly 90% of those arrested were male. Mexican nationals represented the largest group, with approximately 85,000 arrests, followed by 31,000 Guatemalans and 24,000 Hondurans. More than 60% of those detained were between ages 25 and 45.
Business leaders concerned about workforce impact
Some business leaders say stepped-up enforcement is disrupting labor forces that rely heavily on migrant workers.
“Now we’re really feeling that pain in the workforce,” said George Carrillo, chief executive officer of the Hispanic Construction Council. While he praised the administration for prioritizing border security, he said the resulting workplace instability has alarmed employers across the political spectrum.
“Now even the most conservative Republicans are feeling it and understanding that, hey, something different has to be done because now it is affecting their businesses,” Carrillo said.
The data does not offer a complete picture of removal outcomes. Nearly 23,000 people are listed as having taken “voluntary departure,” meaning they left the United States without formal removal proceedings. The Department of Homeland Security reports that ICE currently holds about 65,000 people in detention nationwide.
