Number of people in ICE detention hits record high, data shows

The number of people in immigration detention in the US has hit an all-time high according to data published by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The data, which comes out every two weeks, shows that as of 14 December 2025, ICE held more than 68,400 people.

This many people in immigration detention is a new record, breaking the previous high set at the beginning of December.

The Guardian, using ICE’s data, has continued to track the number of people arrested, detained and deported by the agency. The latest, published on 22 December covers 1 October through 14 December 2025. The Guardian has been tracking this data and has calculated the total number of people the administration has arrested, detained and deported since January 2025.

In total, the administration has arrested more than 328,000 and deported nearly 327,000.

A federal immigration officer detains a migrant at immigration court in New York on 3 September 2025. Photograph: David Dee Delgado/Reuters

In one of the biggest changes in immigration enforcement policies, immigrants with no criminal record continue to make up the largest group in US immigration detention, despite the administration’s rhetoric about focusing its anti-immigration efforts on “the worst of the worst” criminals. Being undocumented in the US is a civil not a criminal infraction. The Trump administration has also moved to invalidate protections for many immigrants staying in the US legally.