Immigrants in detention in Trump's early days hit new record
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A view of the CoreCivic Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, on Feb. 7, 2025. The private institution has been plagued by allegations of medical negligence, abusive and retaliatory behavior against immigrants. Photo: Carlos Moreno/Anadolu via Getty Images
The number of immigrants held in detention under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has hit the highest level in more than five years, new data show.
Why it matters: The detention surge comes as the Trump administration steps up immigration enforcement and seeks to expand the capacity to detain more immigrants amid a months-long backlog with immigration judges.
By the numbers: ICE is reporting that it has increased the number of immigrants in detention to 43,759 as of Feb. 23, according to new data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) and reviewed by Axios.
- That's the highest detention level since November 2019 during the first Trump administration.
- The number of immigrants in detention reached as high as 55,654 in August 2019, with the help of temporary centers erected to house an increase of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Zoom in: 22,797 out of 43,759 — or 52.1% — held in ICE detention at the various locations across the country have no criminal record, TRAC found.
- Many more have only minor offenses, including traffic violations.
- ICE relied on detention facilities in Texas to house the most people during FY 2025, according to data current as of Feb. 18, 2025.
- Adams County Detention Center in Natchez, Miss., held the largest number of ICE detainees so far in fiscal year 2025, averaging 2,148 per day, the analysis found.
State of play: For the first time in four years, it appears that ICE is now responsible for more than half of all immigrants arrested, leading to detention.
- New numbers show 52% of detainees were originally arrested by ICE compared to 48% first apprehended by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), signaling how aggressive the Trump administration is turning toward the interior of the nation for immigration enforcement.
- ICE arrested 11,755 and CBP arrested 10,198 of the 21,953 people booked into detention by ICE during January 2025.
The intrigue: The switch to ICE making more arrests now than CBP isn't surprising since there is no lower border traffic, but also fewer people even trying to travel through the Darién Gap, Boston College Law School professor Daniel Kanstroom tells Axios.
- "A lot of people are stuck in Mexico right now, and I think the number of people moving north (is) definitely down now," said Kanstroom, the author of "Aftermath: Deportation Law and the New American Diaspora."
- Jennie Murray, president and CEO of the moderate to conservative-leaning National Immigration Forum, tells Axios that the Trump administration appears to be focusing more on enforcement in workplaces and cities.
- Still, in these early days of the Trump presidency, Murray says it's hard to determine long-term patterns. "The reporting has not been that consistent from ICE," she said.
Between the lines: Holding immigrants in detention is by far the largest cost of the deportation process.
- A backlog of 3.7 million cases in immigration courts, where immigrants are entitled to make their case to stay in the U.S., means detained immigrants can wait months, even years, for a hearing.
- Undocumented immigrants facing criminal charges can't be deported immediately, as President Trump has suggested. Instead, they typically have to go through the criminal justice system, serve sentences if found guilty, then face deportation.
