US: 770% jump in migrant arrests with no crime; 98% deportation cases civil

Data shows a sharp rise in arrests without convictions even as most deportation cases remain tied to civil immigration violations

A sharp rise in US immigration enforcement is increasingly affecting people without criminal records, with new analysis by the Deportation Data Project at UC Berkeley showing a 770 per cent surge in arrests of migrants with no convictions in recent months.

 

At the same time, official data shows that most deportation proceedings are still based on civil immigration violations rather than criminal charges. Figures from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University show that 98 per cent of migrants placed in deportation proceedings in February did not face criminal charges.

 

What the TRAC data shows

 

According to TRAC, the Department of Homeland Security filed just 741 deportation proceedings in February based on alleged criminal activity. This accounted for 2 per cent of all “Notices to Appear” (NTAs) issued during the month.

   

• 98 per cent of NTAs were linked to civil immigration violations such as entering without inspection or overstaying a visa

• 2 per cent were tied to alleged criminal activity

• Criminal-based NTAs declined from 821 in February 2025 to 741 this year

 

“The remaining 98 per cent of NTAs involved claimed violations of immigration rules such as entry without inspection or overstaying a visa to justify asking an Immigration Judge to enter a removal order,” TRAC data shows.

 

Policy stance and criticism

 

The enforcement data comes as the White House continues to describe unauthorised border crossings in criminal terms under its zero-tolerance approach.

 

Donald Trump has made deportations of migrants with criminal backgrounds a central part of his administration’s immigration policy.

 

However, migrant advocacy groups argue that enforcement actions extend far beyond those with criminal records.

 

“It is clear that the president’s thinly veiled threats of imposing mass deportation on ‘criminal immigrants’ are a promise to target all immigrants—and sometimes even U.S. citizens,” the American Immigration Council posted on social media.   

 

Arrests rise sharply beyond jails and prisons

 

Separate findings from the Deportation Data Project show that Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity has expanded rapidly during the same period.

 

• ICE arrests more than quadrupled

• Transfers from jails and prisons roughly doubled

• Street-level arrests increased in neighbourhoods, immigration courts and field offices

 

“Arrests not in jails or prisons at this order of magnitude are a new phenomenon. For both types of arrests, ICE was much less likely to target people with criminal convictions,” the project said in its analysis.

 

The report found a 770 per cent rise in arrests of individuals without criminal convictions. 

 

Nationwide expansion of enforcement

 

The analysis, based on data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and covering arrests up to March 10, suggests the expansion is not limited to a few urban centres.

 

“It’s well known that ICE has been pursuing a campaign of indiscriminate arrests, but it’s less well known that even as ICE has arrested more people who likely could win their cases and stay in the United States, arrests have been ending more often in deportation,” said David Hausman, co-director of the Deportation Data Project. “One big factor is that detention causes people to give up on their cases.”

 

Graeme Blair, also a co-director of the project, said enforcement activity had spread widely across the country.

 

“In fact, even at the peak of the Minneapolis surge, those arrests accounted for only 15 per cent of nationwide street arrests,” Blair said. “The expansion is truly national.”

 

The African country of Democratic Republic of the Congo also received deported migrants from the United States earlier this week, adding to the list of countries accepting removals.