ICE detention data shows only 3% of Trump-era detainees have violent felony convictions
Analysis of ICE records for the first 14 months of the second Trump administration (Jan 20 2025 – Mar 11 2026) found that 13,018 of 438,537 people detained (about 3%) had a violent felony conviction, defined as homicide, sexual assault, robbery or assault. The total detention population rose to roughly 60,000, well above the previous peak of 39,748 in November 2023.
More than 400,000 detainees had no violent criminal history, including a large number of parents and spouses of U.S. citizens. In the first eight months of 2025, ICE arrested about 14,450 parents of U.S.-born children; over 9,700 children saw at least one parent detained, and more than 7,000 parents were later deported. Of the deported parents, only 265 had violent felony records.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the enforcement as targeting “the worst of the worst,” while critics warned that mass deportations could create a child‑welfare crisis and disrupt family stability.