WASHINGTON, D.C. — Newly-released federal data analyzed by the Cato Institute shows that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is increasingly detaining people with no criminal history, raising significant questions about the agency’s stated focus on public safety.
The findings indicate that only “5 percent had a violent criminal conviction,” while “nearly three in four (73 percent) had no criminal conviction at all.”
The report states that these internal ICE data contradict longstanding claims by Department of Homeland Security officials that enforcement efforts prioritize violent offenders. In contrast to public assurances that “the worst of the worst” are being arrested, the analysis found that “only 8 percent had a violent or property criminal conviction,” and “nearly half had no criminal conviction nor even any pending criminal charges.” The findings argue that the government’s stated rationale for an intensified enforcement campaign is undermined by the data.
The report highlights that many people ICE classifies as having “criminal arrests” merely have pending charges, despite having never been convicted. The charges are often minor and frequently dismissed. The analysis asserts that “ICE is taking away the right to due process from these people by arresting them prior to a conviction.”
The research notes that the rapid rise in detentions is being driven mostly by arrests of people with no criminal records, stating that “80 percent of the daily increase in ICE booking of individuals are those that do not have a criminal record.”
According to the findings, the number of people detained since October “with an immigration conviction is equal to those of violent convicts,” suggesting that public safety is no longer the guiding factor in detention decisions.
Additional findings from the Deportation Data Project at UC Berkeley Law and UCLA School of Law reinforce this pattern. Their FOIA-obtained dataset shows that “67 percent of ICE arrests were people without any criminal conviction,” and nearly “40 percent… were people without criminal convictions or charges.” This marks a dramatic shift from early 2024, when only “one in 10 arrests were individuals without any criminal conviction or charge.”
The report also describes sharp increases in the overall number of arrests. By July, “ICE arrests of immigrants without criminal convictions had increased by 571 percent,” while arrests of people without a conviction or charge rose “1,500 percent since January 1.” Public ICE data further shows that “69 percent of current ICE detainees… had no criminal conviction,” and “40 percent had no criminal charge.”
The analysis illustrates the scale of the shift: the proportion of detainees with criminal records has fallen “from 62 percent… to 31 percent” since January, while the share of detainees without any conviction or charge has increased “6 percent to 40 percent.” The report adds that “Most (70 percent) of those who ICE deported had no criminal record,” indicating that enforcement is diverging from public safety priorities.
The findings argue that the administration’s deportation strategy is failing to target individuals who pose threats to communities. The report states that “less than 90,000 people with criminal records” have been removed this year, falling far short of the administration’s stated goal of deporting “millions.” The analysis concludes that ICE should “put its energy and resources back into dealing with real and serious public safety threats” instead of arresting large numbers of immigrants who have not committed any crime.
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