Federal officers from ICE and other agencies stand guard during an immigration raid of a home in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Nov. 25.Tim Evans/Reuters
A sweeping immigration crackdown in the United States is increasingly ensnaring Canadians who don’t have criminal records – including at least six children – new U.S. government data show.
An estimated 207 Canadians have now been held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at some point since January, when President Donald Trump took office. The total number of Canadians held in 2024 was 130.
Earlier this year, an initial Globe and Mail analysis revealed that ICE had detained two Canadian toddlers in May at a remote facility in Texas. The analysis also showed that Canadians held by ICE were more likely to have criminal records than many other nationalities swept up in the White House’s mass deportation campaign, which has primarily targeted immigrants from Latin America.
In the first half of 2025, almost 70 per cent of Canadians placed in immigration detention had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.
Now, a growing number of Canadian detainees are being held on immigration violations alone, updated enforcement data covering late July to mid-October show.
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Of the Canadians detained during this period, some 44 per cent had no criminal records or pending charges against them, The Globe has found. The detainees include four children ranging in age from under two years old to about 16 years old.
“It’s very emblematic of how arbitrary the system in the United States has become,” said Sharry Aiken, a professor at Queen’s University Faculty of Law.
“It should give all Canadians pause about travelling to the United States right now, because it basically tells us that there’s a real risk.”
In a statement to The Globe, Charlotte MacLeod, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, said the department is “aware of multiple cases of Canadians currently in immigration-related detention in the U.S. and has received requests for information and assistance from individuals and their family members.”
Ms. MacLeod said Canadian officials “maintain frequent and ongoing engagement with U.S. counterparts related to Canadians in immigration-related detention, including at detention centres related to individual cases” and offer consular assistance to detainees.
However, the Canadian government “cannot intervene on behalf of Canadians who do not meet entry or exit requirements for the United States,” Ms. MacLeod said.
The anonymized ICE data disclose details about thousands of detention cases dating back to 2023, including detainees’ nationality, year of birth, time in custody and the reason for the detention. The information was obtained through a federal district-court lawsuit against ICE brought by the Deportation Data Project, which is run by a group of academics and lawyers in the U.S.
As previously reported by The Globe, two Canadian toddlers were detained by ICE in May at the South Texas Family Residential Center, which featured in a legal complaint alleging inadequate drinking water, medical care and legal assistance at the facility earlier this year.
One of the children was detained for 51 days, more than double the 20-day limit imposed by a court-ordered legal agreement governing the protection of migrant children in detention in the U.S. Both of those children, who appear to have been accompanied by adults of other nationalities, have since been released under supervision.
Four additional Canadian children have been detained since late July. The data do not indicate when detainees are being held with other family members. But the Canadian children all showed matching book-in, transfer and release times with adults, suggesting they were accompanied by guardians.
The accompanying adults were arrested on immigration offences only, and the data do not show a criminal history for them.
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One of the Canadian children, a boy born in 2019, was detained in late September at a temporary hold room near the Quebec border before being transferred to the South Texas Family Residential Center.
He was booked in at the same time as two adults from India and was still in detention as of mid-October, the data show. The trio were placed in expedited removal proceedings but were granted a credible-fear referral. This indicates a fear of persecution if they are deported and provides them with an additional screening process before removal.
A Canadian girl, aged about 16, was held in detention at the same facility with an adult man from Mexico for around three weeks before being released on supervision.
Two other Canadian children, arrested in late July and mid-September, have since been removed from the U.S. One child, who is around five years old, is described as having voluntarily departed to Romania with an adult in her 20s a week after being arrested in New Jersey.
A toddler, born in 2024, was held for a day in a Memphis hold room with a Venezuelan woman before being deported. While the data do not disclose where the child was sent, the accompanying woman was removed to Venezuela.
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Rights groups in the U.S. have raised significant concerns about due process for immigration detainees, particularly those who may have valid asylum claims, as Mr. Trump expands the use of expedited removals.
“People are being held in seriously egregious conditions with minors, who should never be in detention,” Prof. Aiken said. “They are being fast-tracked out of the country in a context that is not permitting them to obtain legal representation.”
ICE did not respond to questions from The Globe.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously told The Globe in a statement that the department takes its responsibility to protect children in immigration detention seriously and that “allegations of subprime conditions at these facilities are FALSE.”
Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise of mass deportation, and his administration has said its goal is to arrest 3,000 immigrants a day. Ms. McLaughlin has described the country’s immigration crackdown as focusing on “worst of the worst – including gang members, pedophiles and rapists.”
However, as of mid-November, almost three quarters of the country’s 65,000 immigration detainees had no criminal convictions, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. That is a slight increase from earlier this year, when around 71 per cent had no criminal convictions.
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Of Canadians held by ICE this year on immigration violations alone, most were detained for not having the required visa.
Non-citizens who have criminal records are more vulnerable to deportation, although there are some legal avenues for relief – for example, for those who are married to U.S. citizens.
Around 56 per cent of Canadians detained by ICE since late July have pending criminal charges against them or have been convicted of a crime. Most are not accused of aggravated felonies, which typically bring the harshest repercussions under immigration law, such as being banned from re-entering the U.S.
The detained Canadians had convictions for crimes ranging from wire fraud to sex assault, while others were convicted of shoplifting or drunk driving. At least two of those detained entered the U.S. as legal permanent residents, according to the data.
There were 56 Canadians actively in detention as of mid-October, including four at ICE’s Krome facility in Florida. In June, a 49-year-old Canadian man, Johnny Noviello, died in ICE custody while being held at another complex in the state, the Federal Detention Center Miami.
A report published last week by Amnesty International on the Krome facility said its research team has identified issues with overcrowding, inadequate medical care, poor access to legal representation and “alarming disciplinary practices, including the use of prolonged solitary confinement.”