As of December 13, a record 68,442 people were officially held in one of 216 ICE detention centres across the country. This number is up from the previous high of 65,735 on November 30. Alongside the rapid growth in ICE’s detained population, ICE has also overseen a record number of deaths in detention this year, with four detainees dying in custody just last week.
The growth in the detained population of people ICE arrested since September has come almost exclusively from the growth in the number of people detained with no criminal charges or convictions, now reaching 35% of all people held. Criminal charges and convictions are not required for an immigration arrest and deportation, as pro-enforcement voices correctly point out. But the Trump administration itself continues to justify aggressive enforcement blitzes in places like my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, as if they are going after hardened criminals. The data says otherwise. Moreover, the American public across the political spectrum has long held the view that immigrants without serious criminal histories should be given a pathway to legal status.
Since January, the number of people detained by ICE with criminal convictions has slightly less than doubled, and for people with criminal charges has grown about 3.4 times. The population with no criminal histories has grown nearly 28 times its original number on January 12, the last date of data before Trump took office.
When we include ICE and CBP arrests together, nearly half of all people in detention now have no criminal histories.ICE arrests increased substantially in the first half of December, leading to a projected (possible record) high number of arrests in December of nearly 45,000. This is a simple project based on daily arrests, and the holidays may drive these numbers back down, so don’t get too committed to that 43,731 number.
The overall number of people on alternatives to detention (ATD) continues to hold remarkably steady, with a current total of 181,331 people on electronic monitoring. The trend in ICE’s Alternatives to Detention enrollment continues, with ICE shuffling people off the smartphone tracking app known as SmartLINK and ramping up the number of people on the more punitive GPS ankle monitors. I believe GPS ankle monitor usage is now at record highs for ICE.