ICE arrests of noncriminals spike in Colorado under Trump
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ICE arrests of people without criminal charges or convictions have soared nationwide, including in Colorado, per data compiled by the Deportation Data Project at the UC Berkeley School of Law.
Why it matters: The surge marks a major shift after the Trump administration tripled U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's arrest quota, directly contradicting the president's pledge to target the "worst of the worst."
By the numbers: In January, ICE arrested 267 people in the Denver Field Office region, of whom 28% had no criminal charge, an Axios analysis found.
- By June, 47% of the 544 people ICE arrested had no criminal charge.
State of play: ICE arrests in Colorado have skyrocketed 305% between Jan. 20 — when Trump took office — and June 26, compared to the same period in 2024, according to a Colorado Sun and WyoFile analysis of Deportation Data Project figures.
- That's 1,955 arrests this year compared to 483 a year prior.
- Most of those detained under Trump had no criminal conviction, the data shows.
Zoom in: Colorado's only ICE detention facility in Aurora held 1,232 people as of July 3, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D-Aurora).
- The facility averaged 1,159 detainees daily as of late June — making it the 11th-largest ICE detention population in the country, per an Axios Denver review of data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a nonpartisan nonprofit.
The big picture: Nationally, people without criminal charges or convictions averaged 47% of daily arrests in early June — up from about 21% a month prior, before the quota increase, according to Deportation Data Project figures.
The bottom line: The Trump administration is casting a far wider net than initially promised — and Colorado is facing increased enforcement as a result.
Go deeper: Noncriminal ICE arrests spiked in June