According to DHS’s Annual Report Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2017, “Removals declined 11 percent, or 38,000 fewer removals… About **41 percent of removals involved aliens who had a prior criminal conviction**.” This indicates that in FY 2017, the majority of removals did **not** involve people with criminal convictions, and criminality ranges are not limited to serious offenses.

ICE’s official FY 2019 ERO report states: “In FY 2019, **86 percent of ERO’s administrative arrests consisted of aliens with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges**.” It adds: “As a result, **the majority of aliens arrested by ERO are convicted criminals**, followed by those with pending criminal charges at the time of arrest.” The report further notes that these aliens “have extensive criminal histories with multiple convictions or pending charges,” but provides aggregate counts of convictions ranging from immigration to non‑violent and violent offenses, not just serious crimes.

GAO’s 2024 report reviewing ICE data finds that in FYs 2015–2022, “ICE **interior removals were more likely to involve noncitizens with criminal histories** compared to border removals,” and presents figures showing increasing shares of criminal convictions among interior removals under the Trump administration. However, GAO also stresses that ICE’s categories include a wide range of offenses and that data limitations and reporting weaknesses affect how criminality is characterized, making it difficult to assess how many removals involved only serious violent crimes versus lesser or non‑violent offenses.

Of people booked into ICE custody this fiscal year (since October 1, 2025): Nearly three in four (73 percent) had no criminal conviction. Nearly half had no criminal conviction nor even any pending criminal charges. Only 8 percent had a violent or property criminal conviction. Only 5 percent had a violent criminal conviction. A majority of criminal convicts had vice, immigration, or traffic convictions. The same ICE dataset shows that in November 2025, 70 percent of those who ICE deported had no criminal conviction, and 43 percent had no criminal conviction or criminal charge. So far, the administration has removed barely 90,000 individuals with criminal convictions and fewer than 150,000 individuals with convictions or pending charges.

The DHS Annual Flow Report "Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2020" explains that DHS may “administratively remove noncitizens **convicted of an aggravated felony** who did not have U.S. lawful permanent resident status at the commencement of removal proceedings.” It distinguishes such aggravated felonies—often serious crimes—from other grounds of removal, noting that immigration enforcement consequences also apply to noncitizens without such serious criminal records, including expedited removals and repatriations based on immigration violations.

The new measures have widened the net for deportations and the category of people listed as a priority for removal includes those convicted of criminal offences, those who have engaged in "fraud or wilful misrepresentation", and anyone an immigration officer may consider poses a threat to "public safety or national security".[10]

Under President Trump, U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) is targeting the worst of the worst, 75% of their arrests are criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges.[13]

According to data provided by ICE to the Deportation Data Project in response to a Freedom of Information Act request and analyzed by the Brennan Center, the share of immigrants arrested and detained by ICE with a criminal conviction has fallen dramatically since the start of the Trump administration. In the first two weeks of October 2025, just 31 percent of new detainees had a criminal conviction, compared with 63 percent in the two weeks preceding President Trump’s inauguration. In the first nine months of the second Trump administration, the share of criminals it detained flipped: only 33 percent of people detained by Fugitive Operations had any conviction — and less than 10 percent of all people detained had a conviction for a violent crime, compared with around 20 percent in the last year of the Biden administration. Yet, in the first nine months of the Trump administration, only about 43 percent of people detained through CAP had any conviction at all — and that share was just 36 percent in the four weeks ending October 15.

A Fox News summary of ICE’s FY 2019 annual report states that ICE “conducted **267,258 removals** — up from 256,058 in fiscal year 2018,” and that “**nearly all (91 percent) of the removed included individuals with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges at the time of arrest**.” It lists crimes associated with charges in FY 2019—homicide (1,900), kidnapping (1,800), sex offenses (12,000), assault (45,000)—but these numbers refer to charges associated with arrests, not to all removals, and the remaining criminality includes a wide range of non‑violent and less serious offenses.

The Trump administration frequently states that the overwhelming majority of those detained—70%—are individuals charged with or convicted of crimes in the U.S. ... Based on DHS’s own detention statistics, 53% of immigration detainees either had pending charges or a conviction. The remaining individuals had no criminal history. It's crucial to note that the 53% includes offenses such as property theft and traffic violations. A report from the libertarian Cato Institute in June indicated that only about 7% of those detained by ICE had serious or violent convictions; the other 93% either had no violent convictions or no convictions at all.

On January 25, 2017, Trump signed Executive Order 13768 which, among other things, significantly increased the number of immigrants considered a priority for deportation.[14] Previously, under Obama, an immigrant ruled removable would only be considered a priority to actually be physically deported if they, in addition to being removable, were convicted of serious crimes such as felonies or multiple misdemeanors.[14] Under the Trump administration, such an immigrant can be considered a priority to be removed even if convicted only of minor crimes, or even if merely accused of such criminal activity.[14]

Now, thanks to data released Tuesday by a research institute called TRAC, we know that, actually, very few immigrants the Trump administration is trying to deport are criminals. It turns out just 2 percent of the people the federal government wanted to deport in February 2026 faced any criminal allegations, according to TRAC and court filings. The remaining 98 percent of cases involved alleged violations of immigration rules, such as overstaying a visa or ‘entry without inspection’. ... A mere 0.9 percent of the 801 immigrants facing deportation in February were alleged to have committed a crime, meaning 99.1 percent of notices involved people who were never charged with a crime to begin with. Looking back over time, the Trump administration, in fact, appears to be deporting fewer criminals than past administrations.

An analysis conducted by The Guardian of government documents reveals that a significant 77% of individuals entering proceedings for the first time in 2025 had no criminal record, highlighting a notable discrepancy between the rhetoric of the Trump administration and the actual situation. Analyzing data collected from January 2025 to mid-August 2025, The Guardian found that the increase in arrests during Trump's tenure largely involved individuals without any prior criminal convictions. Less than half of the individuals in the dataset (40%) faced any criminal charges, and merely 23% had a conviction. Traffic-related offenses constituted almost 30% of the convictions, representing the largest category. Assault-related convictions accounted for 9%, while sexual assault and homicide represented only 1% and 0.5%, respectively.

A spokesperson for the White House, Abigail Jackson, stated that “Trump's priority has been the removal of illegal alien criminals who endanger American communities.” She added that approximately 70% of deportations thus far involved illegal aliens with criminal backgrounds. However, ICE data cited in the same New York Times report indicates that only about 5% of individuals detained by ICE in the past year had been convicted of violent offenses. Under Trump, arrests of individuals with violent convictions rose by 37%, while those without any convictions skyrocketed by 770%, according to ICE statistics.

Of the estimated 100,000 people who were deported between January 1 and June 24 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 70,583 were convicted criminals, according to an ICE document obtained by CBS News. ... Around 40% of the agency's detainees since Mr. Trump took office had criminal convictions of some kind with 8% of them convicted of violent crimes. ... ICE's public messaging about its deportation push has focused on undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records, highlighting deportees who were convicted of murder, sex offenses and other violent crimes. But the same document shows that less than 1% of deportees during this period had murder convictions, and only 3.26% were known or suspected gang members or terrorists.

By June 2025, The Independent highlighted released data that indicated non-criminal ICE arrests had jumped more than 800% since April, that only 30% of those in detention had criminal convictions with 27% having pending criminal charges, and only 8.5% of those with criminal records were for violent offenses. CNN reported internal ICE statistics showing less than 10% of immigrants in ICE custody since October 2024 had criminal offenses, and stated that internal ICE documents suggested officials were not focused on violent criminals. On June 20 2025, the Cato Institute reported on nonpublic data of ICE arrests that indicated 65% detained by ICE had no criminal convictions, and that 93% had no violent convictions.

New ICE arrest statistics show that at the start of the administration, ICE tended to target migrants with pending or criminal convictions. From Inauguration Day to May 4, 2025, 44% of those arrested had a criminal conviction, while 34% had pending charges and 23% had no criminal history, according to the data. But beginning May 2025, the data appears to show there was a shift in enforcement — with individuals with criminal convictions making up only 30% of those arrested. Those arrested with pending criminal charges accounted for 26% of the individuals arrested and 44% had no criminal history.

Only 3% of individuals detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the first 14 months of the second Trump administration had a violent felony conviction, according to an ABC News analysis of government data. While the 3% figure is consistent with rates seen under the Biden administration, the data shows the Trump administration is not detaining a higher proportion of violent offenders despite a significant overall increase in total detentions. According to the government data, of the 438,537 people detained between Jan. 20, 2025, and March 11, 2026, 13,018 had a violent felony conviction in the United States.

Less than 14% of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in President Trump's first year back in the White House had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained by CBS News. Nearly 60% of ICE arrestees over the past year had criminal charges or convictions, the document indicates, but among that population, the majority of the criminal charges or convictions are not for violent crimes. Nearly 40% of all of those arrested by ICE in Mr. Trump's first year back in office did not have any criminal record at all, and were only accused of civil immigration offenses, such as living in the U.S. illegally or overstaying their permission to be in the country.

Since that directive, nearly all of the rise in arrests has involved individuals with no prior criminal convictions. Meanwhile, overall arrests tripled to more than 28,000, with arrests of individuals with no previous convictions or charges increasing nearly twenty-fold. The data analyzed by The New York Times shows that as enforcement expanded under Trump, the growth in arrests and subsequent deportations was driven largely by people without criminal records rather than by those convicted of serious crimes.

The Center for Immigration Studies, using ICE records, reports that in FY 2019 (last full year under Trump without pandemic restrictions), “ICE **removed 267,258 aliens**,” including “**150,141 convicted criminals**” and “**12,200 aggravated felons**.” For interior removals, CIS notes that ICE “removed 85,958 aliens from the interior, 64,991 of whom had criminal convictions… and 7,316 of whom were aggravated felons.” This shows that a substantial share of removals involved people with **criminal convictions**, but aggravated felons (serious crimes) were a fraction of total criminal removals.

The two Democratic presidents focused on the expulsion of criminals, while the Republican president—contrary to what has been repeated constantly by Trump’s own administration—has not discriminated on this basis. Only 25% to 35% of the migrants who have been deported had criminal records. Trump’s administration has not prioritized either of those factors, and his Department of Homeland Security perceives all foreigners whose papers are not in order as criminals, and as such, targets of its deportation campaign.

However, ICE data indicates that approximately half of those deported in February did not possess any criminal records, and more than half of the individuals currently detained by ICE face no criminal charges or convictions. This NBC News deportation tracker notes that despite administration rhetoric emphasizing the removal of "criminal aliens," recent deportations under Trump include large numbers of immigrants with no documented criminal history.

ICE’s 287(g) End-of-Year Annual Report for FY 2019 explains that local law-enforcement partners in the 287(g) program had “encounters that initiated **6,536 removals** effected in FY 2019.” Of these, “5,024 **convicted criminals**, 1,360 pending criminal charges, 152 other immigration violators.” It lists types of criminality including assaults, dangerous drugs, larceny, fraud, sex crimes, burglaries, weapons offenses, robberies, and homicides. It also notes that under Executive Order 13768, all individuals encountered by the program fall into categories including those “**convicted of any criminal offense**,” showing emphasis on criminality broadly defined, not strictly serious crimes.

Officials from the Trump administration have stated that their focus will be on deporting individuals with criminal backgrounds. However, ICE data indicates that approximately half of those deported in February did not possess any criminal records, and more than half of the individuals currently detained by ICE face no criminal charges or convictions. The broader context: Fewer than 1% of immigrants deported in the last fiscal year were removed from the U.S. for offenses other than immigration-related violations. An Axios analysis of government data revealed that less than 0.5% of the 1.8 million cases in immigration courts in the past fiscal year—approximately 8,400 individuals—resulted in deportation orders for alleged crimes aside from illegal entry into the U.S.

For both transfers and street arrests, the Trump administration’s decision to stop prioritizing arrests based on factors such as criminal convictions (or to prioritize less) resulted in another well-known trend: the huge increase in the number of arrests of noncitizens not convicted of any crime.[9]

More than one out of three people deported from detention in 2025 had no criminal record at all; neither pending criminal charges nor any prior criminal conviction. Among those deported from detention in 2025 who did have a criminal conviction, the majority (64%) had nothing more serious than a misdemeanor. The American Immigration Council analysis of ICE data underscores that deportations in 2025 under the Trump administration frequently involved immigrants with minor or no criminal histories, rather than those convicted of serious offenses.

A briefing paper on early Trump-era enforcement notes: “preliminary analyses indicate that **enforcement activities against undocumented immigrants has increased, particularly against those with no or minor criminal records**.” It cites DHS reporting that between Jan. 22 and Apr. 29, 2017, ICE arrested 41,318 individuals; “Over **25% of those arrested did not have a criminal record**.” Violent crimes such as homicide, rape, kidnapping and assault accounted for “approximately **2,700 convictions or about 6% of the people arrested**.” A Syracuse University analysis of new deportation cases filed Oct. 2016–May 2017 found that “only **1.7%** of all cases were individuals charged as having committed an aggravated felony and an additional **4.1%** were charged with engaging in less serious criminal activity,” with most cases based on immigration violations.

A CIS analysis of ICE detention and removal numbers notes that in FY 2019, ICE ERO “removed **95,360 aliens from the interior**, 72,627 of whom had **convictions (76.2 percent)**, 14,114 of whom had **pending criminal charges (14.8 percent)**, and 8,619 of whom were **non-criminal immigration violators (nine percent)**.” For FY 2018, the report similarly finds that 76.2 percent of interior removals had convictions and 14.8 percent had pending charges. These figures show that interior removals under Trump heavily involved people with criminal histories, though CIS does not claim they were predominantly serious violent crimes.

A month later, the Department of Homeland Security reported that during Trump's first 50 days, out of 32,809 arrests of undocumented individuals, slightly more than 73% were either accused or convicted criminals. ... According to the latest ICE data, which includes figures through April 2025, of the 41,184 detained in 2025, 31% had been convicted of a crime, while another 24% faced pending charges, totaling 55% with some criminal association. This statistic suggests that just over half of those arrested had criminal records. ... While the percentage of non-criminal detainees being deported has increased recently compared to the previous year, the current rate of 45% is still lower than the estimated 57% of those apprehended in 2023 during the Biden administration who had no criminal backgrounds.

Shortly after becoming president in January of 2017, Trump signed an executive order that sought mass deportations of asylum seekers, changing an Obama-era policy that primarily prioritized deportations of immigrants with a criminal history.[1] While the order on its face purported to prioritize criminal deportations still, the focus on mass deportations of asylum seekers made it fundamentally impossible for ICE to logistically focus on removing criminal noncitizens from the country.[1] During 2018 and 2019 tens of thousands of criminally convicted noncitizens were released from custody while the administration focused on prosecuting asylum seekers, going from 17,069 in 2017 to 19,383 in 2019 totaling out to 58,184 from January 2018-February 2020.[1]

The report, “Acquittal by Removal: How Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda Abandons Crime Victims and Allows Perpetrators to Avoid Justice,” finds that in its push to meet deportation quotas, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has deported victims, witnesses, and even criminal defendants before trials could be completed—derailing prosecutions and leaving serious crimes unresolved.[2]

The Trump administration says it is looking to deport the most dangerous criminals, but an internal DHS document shows a vast majority of undocumented immigrants arrested by ICE have not been charged with or convicted of a violent crime.[8] Fewer than 14% of the nearly 400,000 undocumented immigrants arrested by ICE over the past year had charges or convictions for violent crimes. That includes crimes like kidnapping, sexual assault, and homicide.[8] Nearly 40% of the people taken into custody by ICE under the second Trump administration did not have any criminal record at all and were detained solely for living in the country illegally or overstaying a visa, which are civil violations of federal immigration law.[8]

Background knowledge on ICE enforcement under Trump: Public ICE and DHS statistical releases for FY 2017–2019 consistently distinguish between removals/arrests of **“convicted criminals,” “pending criminal charges,” and “non-criminal immigration violators.”** Across these years, interior removals, and later total removals, show a **large majority involving some type of criminal conviction or charge**, but only a smaller fraction categorized as **aggravated felons or violent offenses**. Many recorded convictions are for immigration, traffic, and other non‑violent crimes, meaning deportations did not primarily target immigrants convicted of serious violent crimes, even though they did prioritize those with any criminal record.