Most Arrests in The City of Immigrants Shows They Had No Criminal Record
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Albert Sun examined data on hundreds of thousands of immigration arrests in newly available government records
NYTimes
The federal deployments that have swept through major cities as part of President Trump’s immigration crackdown have led to thousands of arrests. But they have been less effective at apprehending immigrants with a criminal record than more routine operations elsewhere, new data shows.
In high-profile Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Los Angeles; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and across Massachusetts, more than half of those arrested had no criminal record, compared with a third of immigrants arrested nationwide.
Criminal history of immigrants arrested by ICE in major operations
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Any past
conviction
Pending
criminal charge
No criminal
charges
With violent
conviction
United States
7%
37%
30%
33%
Jan. 20 - Oct. 15
Los Angeles area
6%
29%
14%
57%
June 6 - July 12
Washington, D.C.
2%
8%
9%
84%
Aug. 11 - Sept. 10
Massachusetts
2%
10%
28%
63%
Sept. 4 - 30
Illinois
3%
17%
18%
66%
Sept. 8 - Oct. 15
The Trump administration has said that the aggressive operations are necessary because so-called sanctuary city policies have made it harder for ICE agents to go after immigrants who have committed crimes. It has deployed other federal forces, including Border Patrol and the National Guard, to expand its crackdown.
The operations have upended life for many residents and prompted protests and backlash. Local leaders say they have done little to make their cities safer.
Less than 30 percent of the people arrested in any of these operations had been convicted of a crime, an analysis of the data shows, and a very small share had been convicted of a violent crime. The most common non-violent convictions were for driving under the influence and other traffic offenses.
Daily ICE arrests in places targeted for major operations
Federal crackdowns in these areas resulted in more arrests overall, but most of the people arrested had no criminal history.
The data was obtained through a lawsuit and made available by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by The New York Times. It contains details on every immigration arrest and detention conducted by ICE through Oct. 15. Violent crimes were determined based on categories from the National Crime Information Center. The analysis focused on periods of escalated federal operations. It was unclear if all arrests made by Border Patrol in these places were included
Details on the new operations that began this week in Minneapolisand New Orleans, and the brief November operations in North Carolina, were not yet available.
The same trends seen in the local crackdowns were seen nationwide, as the share of people with criminal convictions ICE has detained fell to 28 percent in mid-October from 46 percent at the start of Mr. Trump’s term. Another 26 percent had pending charges.
Daily ICE arrests nationwide
Immigration arrests of people with no criminal history have risen faster than other arrests.
The share of people arrested under Mr. Trump with past violent convictions for crimes like assault, robbery or homicide was down to 5 percent in mid-October, the data shows, compared with 15 percent in 2024.
A shift in focus
Historically, ICE worked with local law enforcement officials to take custody of immigrants held in local jails and prisons after they had served their sentences or were released. Last year, under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., 63 percent of those arrested by ICE had a criminal conviction, and 24 percent had pending criminal charges.
Under President Trump, ICE arrests of all types are up, including transfers from other law enforcement agencies, the data shows. But the greatest increase in arrests has occurred outside of these programs. In five states and Washington, D.C., a majority of the people detained by ICE this year had no criminal record.
Share of people arrested by ICE with no criminal record
People have been arrested in raids, and swept up at checkpointsand outside workplaces. People have also been arrested at courthouses, at their green card interviews, inside airports and outside schools.
In September, as the operations in Massachusetts and Chicago started, the Supreme Court allowed immigration officers to resume using race and ethnicity as factors in determining who to stop on the street and question, and arrests of people without a criminal history jumped.
Trump officials have given the operations colorful names like “Midway Blitz” and “Patriot 2.0,” and regularly post videosshowing officers in military-style gear conducting raids and patrolling city streets.
“D.H.S. is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles and terrorists,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of ICE. “Seventy percent of illegal aliens ICE arrested across the country have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges just in the United States.”
In Illinois, the data shows, just 54 people with violent convictions were arrested by ICE between the start of “Midway Blitz” and mid-October. Another 78 of those arrested had past convictions for a traffic offense, the most frequent type of past conviction.
In Washington, D.C., ICE arrested just 10 people with violent convictions during the month the Metropolitan Police Department was federalized and cooperating with ICE.
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