DEPORTATIONS5% of People Detained by ICE Have Violent Convictions, 73% No Convictions
President Trump’s deportation agenda does not match the campaign promises that he made – he said he would focus on deporting “the worst of the worse” – nor the rhetoric from his officials. The opposite is the case: for example, 73 percent of people booked into ICE custody this fiscal year had no criminal conviction. Of the small number of those convicted of a crime, the majority had vice, immigration, or traffic convictions. The problem: the diversion of effort and resources to find and deport noncriminal undocumented migrants has reduced the ability of DHS and the FBI to pursue investigations into terrorist financing; child exploitation and human trafficking; and drug and gun crimes.
President Donald Trump premised his mass deportation agenda on the idea that he will be “returning millions and millions of criminal aliens.” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has repeatedly claimed that they are arresting the “worst of the worst.” New nonpublic data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leaked to the Cato Institute reveal a different story.
Of people booked into ICE custody this fiscal year (since October 1, 2025):
· Nearly three in four (73 percent) had no criminal conviction.
· Nearly half had no criminal conviction nor even any pending criminal charges.
· Only 8 percent had a violent or property criminal conviction.
· Only 5 percent had a violent criminal conviction.
· A majority of criminal convicts had vice, immigration, or traffic convictions.
The appendix table at the end of this report provides the detailed breakdown of the data by detailed type of crime.
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Only 5 percent of individuals booked into ICE detention had a violent criminal conviction
ICE book-ins into custody, FY 2026, Oct 1 - Nov 15, 2025
|
No conviction |
73% |
|
Traffic |
6% |
|
Immigration |
5% |
|
Violent |
5% |
|
Other |
4% |
|
Vice |
3% |
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Convictions include convictions at any time, not just during the period listed.
The earliest data I obtained that was reported in this way comes from April 26, 2025. Compared with October 2024 to April 2025—before the White House shifted focus completely away from criminals—80 percent of the increase in daily ICE book-ins have come from individuals without criminal convictions.
Since October 1, only 8 percent of detained persons had either a violent or property crime. As many people were detained with an immigration conviction (e.g., illegal entry/reentry) as violent convicts.
