ICE increasingly targeting non-criminals as deportation campaign intensifies

More than half of immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in recent months have no criminal convictions, suggesting a significant shift from the Trump administration’s stated focus on targeting “the worst of the worst.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported arresting more than 273,000 and deporting over 239,000 undocumented immigrants as of June 30. Data specific to ICE shows arrests more than doubled from January 20 to June 11 when compared with the same timeframe last year. ICE facilities held 56,397 immigrants as of June 15, with 46% lacking any criminal history at the time of their detention.

Arrest patterns drastically changed after White House officials established a 3,000-arrest daily target on May 21. ICE has conducted nearly 1,000 daily arrests since May 20, a significant increase from the roughly 600 arrests in preceding months. Among detainees, those with criminal convictions decreased from nearly 46% in January to 30% by June.

ICE’s San Diego office conducted 1,042 arrests from January through early June, with roughly 53% having no criminal charges or convictions. In Los Angeles, 417 of 722 people (about 57%) detained in early June — when anti-ICE protests broke out — reportedly possessed no criminal background.

Meanwhile, more than 4,600 non-citizens were arrested in the New York City area covering Newark to Long Island in the first four months of the new administration. Of this number, 35% are non-criminals. Within the Chicago Area of Responsibility, ICE detained 4,775 individuals during the same period, with 18% lacking prior charges initially. But after the May 21 quota establishment, that proportion increased to 36%.

Commenting on a CBS analysis reporting that the majority of the criminals arrested were non-violent, the DHS said: “The media continues to peddle this FALSE narrative that ICE is not targeting criminal illegal aliens. The official data tells the true story: 70% of ICE arrests were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges. Additionally, many illegal aliens categorized as ‘non-criminals’ are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gang members and more — they just don’t have a rap sheet in the U.S. This deceptive ‘non-criminal’ categorization is devoid of reality and misleads the American public.”

Arrests expected to escalate as Congress last week approved an additional $170 billion in immigration enforcement and border security funding.