Deportation Data Project

Fact Checking the “Success” of Trump Border Patrol Policies A new study shows that border policies under both Biden and Trump had relatively small effects on border crossings.

Did Trump "close the border" when he took office again? Did Biden cause a wave of migration through lax border enforcement? The answer may surprise you!

www.justsecurity.org/130422/fact-...

Fact Checking the “Success” of Trump Border Patrol Policies A new study shows that border policies under both Biden and Trump had relatively small effects on border crossings.

"Border crossings swelled when Biden took office and plunged when he left. Right?

Wrong. In fact, the Biden-era spike in border crossings started before Biden took office and ended before he left office"

DDP codirector David Hausman with Adam Cox & Mary Hoopes

www.justsecurity.org/130422/fact-...

ICE's Delayed Detention Data is Out, Two Record Highs: 70,000 People Detained, 40,000 on Ankle Monitors ICE detention has crossed 70,000 for the first time ever, with ankle monitor use topping 40,000. The data was delayed, but it's finally public.

ICE's Delayed Detention Data is Out, Two Record Highs: 70,000 People Detained, 40,000 on Ankle Monitors

austinkocher.substack.com/p/ices-delay...

Hundreds of Kids, Including Infants, Are Still at the ICE Facility That Released Liam Ramos. Now There’s a Measles Outbreak. Rep. Joaquin Castro, who visited last week, is calling for the facility to be “shut down immediately” after measles outbreak.

thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/02/h...

She wants to self-deport. But this pregnant mom is stuck in a strange subplot of Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown | CNN After President Donald Trump changed not only the immigration rules of her new country but the political landscape of her native one, Franyelis found herself in a strange subplot of the US immigration...

www.cnn.com/2026/02/01/u...

A very useful writeup from @deportationdata.org on the overall trends in immigration enforcement in 2025 based on the data the organization obtained from ICE. deportationdata.org/analysis/imm...

Opinion | Liam Ramos Was Just One of Hundreds of Children at This Detention Center. Release Them All.

Elora Mukherjee, Deportation Data Project Faculty Fellow, on ICE detention of children

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/o...

ICE Street Arrests in New York City Increase 212% Under Trump - Documented A new report finds that under Trump, ICE's tactics have shifted from more targeted arrests to “arresting anyone it can”.

documentedny.com/2026/01/29/i...

Immigration raids pick up in L.A. as federal tactics shift. Arrests happen in 'as fast as 30 seconds' Immigration enforcement tactics have fluctuated during the first nine months of the Trump administration's second term.

www.latimes.com/california/s...

Where ICE Has Had Cooperation From Minnesota Jails and Prisons

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/u...

Children in ICE Detention Skyrocket in Trump’s Second Term With a six-fold jump in children in detention, advocates allege harrowing conditions are putting kids’ lives at risk.

The number of children in ICE detention on a given day has skyrocketed, jumping more than sixfold since the start of the second Trump administration. We analyzed data obtained by the Deportation Data Project and found that ICE held around 170 children on an average day under Trump.

The Deportation Data Project has some interesting information about how people are being arrested by immigration police and what is happening.
First thing worth pointing out, the increased number of immigration arrests are from massive "street arrests" and more transfers from other agencies.

Kelsey Norman and Nicholas Micinski explain why ICE tactics are shocking Americans: militarized immigration enforcement used to happen at the border, far from most people's lives. From 2010-2020, nearly 80% of deportations were initiated at or near the US-Mexico border. 🧵

www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

Yes, as far as we understand, ICE does not collect statistics on US citizens who are arrested or detained. They do not appear in the data released to us.

New report on immigration enforcement in the first nine months of Trump's presidency deportationdata.org/analysis/imm...

Key findings:
-"ICE arrests quadrupled"
-"ICE street arrests...went up by over a factor of 11"
-"over a sevenfold increase in arrests of people without criminal convictions"

We link to the raw data (obtained from ICE and posted in December 2025) and the code we used to analyze along with the report.

Read the full report: deportationdata.org/analysis/imm...

Data and more at deportationdata.org

Rate of voluntary departures increased from low at end of Biden administration by 21x in last month of data in Trump administration.

Maybe because of the lower release rate, voluntary departures (which are rare compared to removals) have increased by 21 times.

The rate of deportation within two months of initial detention is up by about a quarter, from 55% to 69%, and the declining release rate accounts for most of that increase.

Rate of release within 60 days drastically declined (16% at end of Biden admin. to 3% in last month of the data), and rate of removal (deportation) increased.

Second, once arrested, few were released. Release within 60 days of arrest, already rare in the last six months of the Biden administration (16%), now almost never happens (3%). This is because of changes to policies at ICE and the immigration courts.

Detentions from border arrests declined, starting at end of Biden administration, opening detention beds for arrests in the interior of the US.

First, the administration roughly tripled the number of detention beds used for people arrested within the United States. That capacity increase was a result both of new funding and, less well understood, of a decrease in arrests at the border.

The quadrupling (4x) of arrests resulted in a 4.6x rise in deportations because of increased detention space, decreased releases, and an increase in immigrants accepting voluntary departure. We’ll break down each one.

ICE street arrests went up by 11x. Both street arrests and custodial arrests (transfers from jails and prisons) increased from the end of the Biden administration.

ICE street arrests (i.e. arrests not at jails) went up by over a factor of eleven by the last month of our data up through Oct. 15, 2025, compared to the last six months of Biden admin. Street arrests at this order of magnitude are a new phenomenon.

4.6x increase in weekly removal rate from end of Biden administration to last month of data in Oct. 2025

👋 Joining BlueSky to launch our first report, on immigration enforcement in the first nine mos. of the Trump admin.

Big picture: deportations from interior arrests are up 4.6x from the end of Biden's term, from big increase in arrests, expansion in detention beds, & drastic reduction in releases.