The number of deportations quintupled during the first year of the current presidential administration, while the number of street arrests increased along with detentions in immigration courts and at immigration appointments.
But also the new report of the Deportation Knowledge Undertaking reveals that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out eight times as many arrests of people without criminal convictions.
This report follows up on the latest project, which was led by academics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, as well as attorneys, and is based on new and updated individual-level data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
These data on arrests and deportations between October 1, 2022 and March 10, 2026, were obtained through Freedom of Information Act lawsuits.
“We showed that enforcement didn’t just skyrocket in Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis,” said Graeme Blair, co-author of the UCLA Deportation Data Project.
“In fact, even at the height of the surge in Minneapolis, those arrests represented just 15% of street arrests nationally,” he said.
The political science professor also added that high arrest rates were recorded in the rest of the country.
Overall, the report found that ICE detentions more than quadrupled from the end of the Biden administration to January 2026.
Previously, the report reveals, most of the agency’s arrests came from transfers from jails and prisons; and the period analyzed doubled.
However, they indicate that the shift towards a greater number of arrests occurred on public roads, in neighborhoods and local businesses, as well as in immigration courts and during regular appointments to which immigrants are called to verify their status.
“This represented a novel phenomenon, given that these figures multiplied by now.”
As the administration detained more people and released fewer, researchers found that the number of detention center beds occupied by people arrested within the United States quadrupled throughout 2025.
This figure increased from a daily average of around 14,000 in the second half of 2024 to around 57,000 in January 2026.
When it comes to people without criminal records, researchers found that arrests increased more than eightfold. The deportation rate more than doubled for those who also did not have a deportation order prior to arrest.
“It is well known that ICE has been carrying out a campaign of indiscriminate detentions, but it is less known that, even when more people have been detained who could probably win their cases and remain in the United States, the detentions have more frequently led to deportations,” said David Hausman, co-director of the project and author of the report, who is an associate professor of law at UC Berkeley.
“A traditional reason is that detention is causing people to drop their cases,” he said.
The report indicates that as the Trump administration makes it increasingly difficult to release detainees, even complicating obtaining bail and releasing them pending judicial review, voluntary departures and returns to countries of origin increased 28-fold.
Although the latest information shows a slight decrease in control measures following the deaths of protesters Renée Appropriate and Alex Pretti, researchers noted that this has not yet translated into a decrease in expulsions.
The latest report is an update of an earlier analysis that covered the first nine months of the current administration. It is based on almost five months of new data obtained by the Deportation Knowledge Undertaking.
Let’s bring Araceli home
The GoFundMe site’s website is filled with harrowing stories of immigrants detained by ICE in the first year of President Trump’s second term, whose families are desperately seeking to raise funds to pay for their proper defense.
One of the most recent accounts to receive donations is Bringing Araceli Home: A Fight for Abnegation and Family.
“Araceli is currently detained at the Adelanto, California Immigration Detention Center, and we are urgently raising funds for her rightful defense to fight for her right to remain in the United States,” her account says.
According to what was published, Araceli, a middle-aged woman, has been detained since June 2, 2025.
His absence is described as “a heartbreaking loss for his family and community, who rely on his incredible generosity and spirit.”
The campaign organizer reveals that the main reason Araceli came to the United States was to help her dear friend, María, take care of her disabled son after a negative car accident left the family in trouble.
“Now, Araceli needs her community to support her. She faces a complex and daunting battle to remain in the country where she has established deep roots and where her heart belongs.”
They indicate that the success of your case, and your ability to stay with your family, depends entirely on ensuring correct specialized representation.
“We are racing against time to raise $15,000 to cover essential legal expenses: the attorney retainer, in English, retainer”.
They make it known that every dollar will be used to give this mother and grandmother a fair opportunity to fight her case and reunite with her family.
“We know that our country benefits when people like Araceli—kind, devoted, and selfless—are allowed to stay.”
