Immigrants without criminal records make up 74% of the average daily population in California detention centers and 79% nationwide, according to data released this week by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. <\/p>\n
The data shed light on how immigration detention has ebbed and flowed so far in 2026. <\/p>\n
More than 43,000 people were booked into detention centers nationwide in June, the highest recorded since President Trump returned to office, the data show. Detentions had slowed since ICE launched large-scale raids<\/a> across the country, including in Los Angeles<\/a> in June 2025. <\/p>\n But detentions ramped up in late spring as Trump fast-tracked asylum cases<\/a>, sowing confusion in immigration courtrooms as judges were forced to process up to 100 people or more in a single day. Many respondents missed their hearings and were issued default orders of removal. <\/p>\n The number of detainees booked in June was over 2% higher than the previous record of 42,107 in December, when federal agents launched a major operation in the Twin Cities<\/a> that left two U.S. citizens dead, causing widespread outrage and prompting the Department of Homeland Security to shift its focus to the courtrooms.<\/p>\n In the nine months between October and June, 356,389 people have been deported, compared with 319,980 deportations for the 12 prior months. <\/p>\n ICE released the detention data on Monday after a months-long delay. The agency is required by Congress to publish data every other week, but hadn\u2019t since early April. <\/p>\n The agency \u201chas just ignored the law,\u201d said Susan Long, co-founder of TRAC, a data gathering and research organization. <\/p>\n An ICE spokesperson said the delay was due to the partial government shutdown<\/a> earlier this year, which closed the Department of Homeland Security for 76 days, before reopening in early May.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best way to ensure DHS can keep the public updated is to keep the agency OPEN and FUNDED, which thanks to President Trump is now guaranteed for the next 3 years,\u201d the spokesperson told The Times. <\/p>\n The three-month lapse in data is the longest delay seen in years, said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. Consistent reporting of detention data is crucial to closely track shifts in immigration enforcement, he said. <\/p>\n \u201cImmigration \u2014 it affects most individuals,\u201d Long said. \u201cWe live in a democracy. For people to be able to meaningfully participate, they need to know what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n The agency has nearly 66,000 people detained nationwide as of July 11, a jump from the last reported number in April, but still lower than a record high of 70,766 in late January. <\/p>\n The data doesn\u2019t include people detained in short-term facilities, including ICE field offices and courtrooms.<\/p>\n The Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown steered away from large-scale raids<\/a> in recent months and instead shifted its focus<\/a> toward legal immigration. Tactics include restricting asylum applications, packing immigration courtrooms and detaining immigrants who show up for routine check-ins.<\/p>\n The new data reinforced previous findings that the overwhelming majority of people detained by ICE do not have a criminal conviction. <\/p>\n Since October, on average, 6,412 people have been in detention on a given day across the eight California detention centers, 4,732 with no criminal record, according to a Times analysis of the data. <\/p>\n Only about 38% of the average daily population in custody at Adelanto ICE Processing Center have a criminal record. At the California City Immigrant Processing Center in Kern County, that number is 25%, the analysis found. <\/p>\n \u201cThe data continues to show that this administration is not focused on the worst of the worst,\u201d Reichlin-Melnick said. \u201cThere has never been a time prior to the last year or so … when the single biggest group that\u2019s being arrested by ICE and sent to detention is people with no criminal record.\u201d<\/p>\n Monthly detention numbers nationwide dipped well under 35,000 from February to May, according to the data. The lull followed intense immigration raids in January and the tail end of 2025. <\/p>\n