ICE Detention Approaching 50,000 Immigrants, but Growth Slows
ICE’s latest detention data released today shows that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is holding close to 50,000 immigrants in custody, or precisely 47,892 on March 23, 2025. This is up nearly 10,000 from the baseline number of 39,703 at the end of the Biden administration. As I mentioned in my previous post, these detention numbers are now the highest in five years. With additional funding on its way and family detention starting up again, ICE detention could surpass previous detention highs during the Trump administration of over 60,000.
A growing majority of people in detention were arrested by ICE rather than Customs and Border Protection (CBP), indicating a growth in interior enforcement rather than border enforcement. The number of immigrants detained as a result of CBP activity continues to drop in absolute and relative numbers amid low numbers of border crossings.
In addition to total numbers, I have also been tracking the composition of currently detained people by criminal history given the strong claims by the administration about focusing on criminals. While the percentage of detainees without criminal convictions has gone up overall, the current ratio of people with convictions, charges, and only immigration violations remained steady over the past two weeks.
Although detention continues to grow in absolute numbers, the relative growth of detainees from ICE arrests has slowed since the beginning of February. The graph below shows relative growth in ICE-based detentions compared to the previous week—a simple way to show relative growth over time. This could be due to limitations in detention space or due to a slow-down in enforcement after an initial surge—although there may be other explanations, as well. For example, this snapshot data that shows total detained population on a single day does not capture total people who go through detention over time or the speed at which they go through detention.
The total number of immigrants on ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program continues to see little change. The total ATD population remains steady between 180,000 and 190,000 despite a sharp rise in immigration enforcement that might normally contribute to a larger monitored population. This is somewhat perplexing since the total number of immigrants booked into detention has grown faster than the overall detained population. This could mean that ICE is releasing immigrants from detention without adding them to electronic monitoring, but without additional data, it’s difficult to determine the true trends.
If you have questions, comments, or criticisms about these data or about the data visualization here, please join the conversation in the comments below.
You can find the ICE’s detention data sheet here or download the raw file below.
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Thank you for your work.
Maybe I'm too conspiracy-minded, but a steady ATD pop coupled with the number of immigrants detained outpacing the overall detained population seems suspicious, no?