The number of immigrants held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without criminal records has surged dramatically, exceeding a 2,000 percent increase since President Donald Trump assumed office in January. This startling statistic was recently unveiled by ICE, highlighting the significant shift in the agency’s detention practices.

The current total of detainees marks the highest figure reported by ICE since its inception in 2003, a year marked by the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. This increase underscores the agency’s evolving approach to immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.

ICE’s latest data release, which adheres to transparency requirements set by Congress, comes amidst a decline in the agency’s public approval. According to a poll conducted by Daily Mail/JL Partners, ICE’s approval rating has slipped to 34 percent, a notable four-point drop since October. Meanwhile, 45 percent of the 1,246 registered voters surveyed expressed disapproval of the agency’s actions.

The agency’s aggressive tactics were brought into the spotlight following the arrest of Bruna Ferreira, a woman with close familial connections to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Ferreira, who shares an 11-year-old son with Michael Leavitt, Karoline’s brother, was detained in Revere, Massachusetts, and is currently held at an ICE facility in southern Louisiana.

This incident further fueled discussions around ICE’s enforcement strategies, reflecting the broader tensions and controversies surrounding immigration policies in the United States.

Bruna Ferreira, who has an 11-year-old son with Leavitt’s brother, Michael Leavitt, was taken into custody in Revere, Massachusetts, earlier this month and is currently being held at an ICE facility in southern Louisiana.

The data released by ICE shows that as of November 16, the agency, in combination with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), had 65,135 people in detention facilities throughout the country. 

A little less than half of those in custody – 30,986 people – did not have any criminal records or pending criminal charges. 

Forty-five percent of the 1,246 registered voters surveyed by the Daily Mail disapprove of ICE and aggressive immigration enforcement tactics, exemplified in this photo of border patrol agents arresting a man in Charlotte, North Carolina

They were instead listed as ‘other immigration violator.’ That means they were detained solely due to civil violations of US immigration law. 

The other two reported categories for convicted criminals and those with pending criminal charges had 17,171 and 16,978 detainees, respectively. 

That represents about 26 percent of the total for convicted criminals, and about 26 percent more for those with pending criminal charges. 

The statistics do not specify the severity of the charges or convictions, meaning they could range from serious felonies to misdemeanors. 

Illegal re-entry to the US is classified as a misdemeanor for first-time offenders, but those cases are usually handled in civil court.

All three of the categories published by ICE have seen a sharp rise since Trump took office, but the number of non-criminals has had the most dramatic increase. 

In January, it was the smallest individual category by far. Now, the number of non-criminals in ICE custody is almost as high as the other two categories combined, and it has swelled into the largest individual category.

Those statistics take into account both ICE and CBP detainees. The former agency initially took into custody 52,510 people, while the latter initially took custody of 12,625.

As of November 16, ICE, combined with CBP, had 65,135 people in detention facilities throughout the country

ICE and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) agents clash with demonstrators during a protest outside an ICE processing center in Broadview, Illinois

Looking at ICE specifically, there has been a 2,143 percent rise in non-criminal detainees since January 26, when there were 945, to November 16, when there were 21,194.

The number of those with criminal convictions who have been detained has risen 73 percent, and the number of those with pending criminal charges has risen 226 percent.

The statistics seem to go against the Trump administration’s promise that immigration enforcement would primarily be targeted at ‘the worst of the worst.’

They also seem to confirm the feelings of a growing chorus of conservative voices who are turning on the brutal tactics used by ICE to round up and deport illegal immigrants – specifically those who are not convicted criminals.

According to the Daily Mail/JL Partners poll, among the 55 percent of respondents who disapprove of Trump’s job as president, 41 percent of them put the actions of ICE and immigration enforcement as one of their top three reasons for the negative ranking.

The statistics go against the Trump administration’s promise that immigration enforcement would target ‘the worst of the worst’. Trump is pictured Thursday

A protester confronts law enforcement officers after they dispersed people gathered outside the ICE headquarters in Portland, Oregon

A person strikes an effigy of Customs and Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino as protesters gather in Broadview, Illinois

Some popular and influential voices that previously supported Trump have turned on the president when it comes to his administration’s approach to immigration.

In a June episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the independent podcaster who gave an 11th-hour endorsement of Trump in the 2024 election said: ‘They said, “We’re gonna get rid of the criminals and the gang members first”… And now we’re seeing, like, Home Depots get raided. Like, that’s crazy,’

He claimed that voters ‘wouldn’t have signed up’ for raids on sites like Home Depot or construction zones.

‘It’s insane… the targeting of migrant workers—not cartel members, not gang members, not drug dealers. Just construction workers. Showing up in construction sites, raiding them. Gardeners. Like, really?’ he said in a later episode.