ICE Agents in the Midwest Increasingly Detain Individuals Without Prior Criminal Records

CHICAGO (WLS) — President Donald Trump campaigned with a promise to deport large numbers of criminal offenders, and while U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained over 38,000 migrants with criminal records, updated data indicates a recent change in focus, with more arrests of individuals who have not been accused of any crimes.

During the initial four months of Trump’s second term, the Deportation Data Project reveals that ICE detained 4,775 individuals in the Chicago Area of Responsibility, which encompasses Illinois and five surrounding states.

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Among those detained, 47% had previous criminal convictions, 35% were facing pending criminal charges, and just 18% of immigrant arrestees had neither previous charges nor convictions.

On May 21, White House officials imposed a new arrest quota nationwide, demanding that ICE conduct at least 3,000 arrests a day.

SEE MORE: Trump vowed to deport ‘worst of the worst’ — but ICE is also arresting non-criminals: data

From that point through June 11, ICE agents in the Midwest jurisdiction began arresting more people who have no prior criminal convictions or charges, the I-Team found.

During that time period, 1,147 people were arrested in the Chicago Area of Responsibility: 32% had prior criminal convictions, 32% also had pending criminal charges, and 36% had no prior criminal charges or convictions.

Since President Trump’s second term inauguration day, data show more than half, or 51%, of the people arrested by ICE are still in active court proceedings to determine whether they can be removed, while 47% of the cases have ended with people removed from the U.S., either deported or voluntarily.

And in that time, a Colombian man arrested in the Chicago Area of Responsibility reportedly died while in ICE custody, the data show.

Brandon Lee and his colleagues at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights say this is exactly what they have warned migrant communities about for months.

“I don’t think we were ever under the impression that he would run a targeted operation,” Lee told the I-Team. “It is a situation that shows a degree to which Trump is trying to cause that fear and create these harsh environments for people in Chicago and across the country.”

ABC News contributed to this report.