Federal immigration agents conducted widespread arrests across the United States during the recent government shutdown, detaining and deporting tens of thousands of people while most other federal operations ground to a halt.
Unprecedented Detention Numbers
Newly released data reveals that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested approximately 54,000 people and deported around 56,000 individuals during the shutdown period from 1 October through 15 November 2025. This has resulted in more than 65,000 people currently being held in immigration detention facilities nationwide - the highest number recorded in modern US immigration history.
While other federal employees faced furloughs without pay and public services became limited or unavailable, ICE enforcement operations continued unabated. The Trump administration maintained its aggressive anti-immigration agenda throughout the shutdown, including targeting thousands of individuals with no criminal background.
Shift in Enforcement Patterns
The latest statistics show a dramatic change in who ICE is targeting. During the first week of Donald Trump's second term in January 2025, only 950 people without criminal histories were in immigration detention. The new data reveals this number has skyrocketed by 2,131% to nearly 22,000 individuals with no criminal record now detained.
Adam Sawyer, director of research at Relevant Research, confirmed this represents the "highest number of detainees, at least since the start of our modern era of immigration detention from the 1980s".
Immigrants with no criminal record now constitute the largest group in US immigration detention, despite being undocumented in the US representing a civil infraction rather than a criminal offence.
Expanded Operations and Controversial Tactics
The Trump administration has significantly altered immigration enforcement methods, with ICE receiving substantial funding increases. Massive operations have targeted major cities including Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Leaked emails obtained by The Guardian show ICE officials were instructed to arrest at least 3,000 people each day - equivalent to one million annually. Agents were also directed to arrest "collaterals" - the agency's term for people present during operations without arrest warrants.
Border patrol agents, who previously focused on the US-Mexico border, have been redeployed to assist ICE with interior arrests. The administration has also deputised growing numbers of local officials to conduct immigration enforcement work.
Austin Kocher, an assistant research professor at Syracuse University who analyses ICE data, noted these enforcement patterns "coincide with the Trump administration's enforcement hysteria in Chicago" and call into question the administration's claims about targeting dangerous criminals.
The data shows ICE has arrested approximately 16,000 people with criminal backgrounds and nearly 15,300 individuals with pending charges, but these numbers are surpassed by those with no criminal record.
