Targeting of ICE Detainers: Biden and Trump Administrations

Published Sep 13, 2024

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has long claimed that detainers, often called "immigration holds," are an essential tool needed to apprehend and deport individuals not authorized to remain in the U.S.[1]

ICE detainers are often used as one indicator of the intensity of what is called “interior enforcement” in contrast to “border enforcement” conducted by ICE’s peer agency, Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The latest detainer-by-detainer internal ICE records recently received by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) provide details on how the use of detainers has been climbing under the current Biden administration. Since February 2023, agency officials have regularly issued more than 10,000 each month.

From FY 2021 through the first quarter of FY 2024, the current administration has issued just under 300,000 detainers, or 295,456 to be precise. These have been addressed to 4,305 different law enforcement agencies. A detailed picture of where these detainers have been sent is shown in Figure 1. For detainer counts for each of these 4,305 different law enforcement agencies see TRAC’s detainer dashboard at: https://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/newdetain/.

Among law enforcement agencies (LEAs) receiving ICE detainers under the current administration, those in California received the largest number, followed closely by LEAs in Texas. Together, LEAs in these two states accounted for almost half (48.6%) of all ICE detainers issued since the beginning of FY 2021. LEAs in Florida received the third largest number of detainers, just 6 percent of all detainers nationally, or slightly less than one-fourth the number received in either California or Texas. LEAs in Georgia and in Arizona had the fourth and fifth, respectively, largest number of detainers by state.

LEAs in every state received some detainers. A total of 35 states each received over a thousand detainers from FY 2021 through the first quarter of FY 2024. Among states, Vermont LEAs received the smallest number – just 21. State-by-state detainer counts by fiscal year are available in TRAC’s detainer dashboard: https://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/newdetain/.

Figure 1 displays where detainers were sent by the location of the city or town within which the LEAs were located. Not surprisingly, there are concentrations in many major metropolitan areas — particularly those with large numbers of residents who are noncitizens. During the period from FY 2021 through the first quarter of FY 2024, ICE officials issued detainers in over 10,000 separate cases in Houston, Texas, more than any other city in the country. Los Angeles, California had the second-most detainers issued, with over 7,800 while Phoenix, Arizona had the third-highest with over 6,600.

However, often a more significant factor than the size of the city was whether a large jail, detention facility or prison was located in the town and whether the metro area was in proximity to the US-Mexico border. Edinburg, Texas, is a city in the Rio Grande Valley of only 104,294 residents but with the fourth largest number of detainers. It is also the location of a Texas State Prison branch. Santa Ana, California, home to 308,189 residents and the Orange County Jail, ranked fifth among cities. Dilley, Texas, a small town of 3,374 and the location of a Texas State Prison, was sixth in the number of detainers issued. Huntsville, Texas, a small city of 45,941 residents and a State Penitentiary, ranked in 13th place.[2]

ICE Detainers Issued During the Trump Administration

Although detainer usage under the Biden administration has been rising, overall 50 percent more ICE detainers were issued during the Trump presidency (FY 2017 - FY 2020). Using the toggle buttons, Figure 1 allows users to examine city-by-city where detainers were sent by ICE during the Trump administration. Two additional selections highlight communities where Trump issued more detainers than Biden, in comparison to where Biden issued more detainers than Trump. We’ll highlight details featured in each of these maps in this section.[3]

One important finding is that despite the higher detainer numbers issued during the Trump years, the number of different law enforcement agencies issued detainers was roughly comparable between the two administrations. That is, the dispersion of detainer usage across communities in the U.S. was similar, although the specifics of which communities had law enforcement agencies receiving detainers differed somewhat between the two administrations.

Figures 2 and 3 highlight communities where change occurred. Figure 2 provides information on the top 25 cities which received the most detainers during the Trump years and compares these communities with the numbers issued during the Biden presidency. Los Angeles, California (20,318 detainers issued) tops the list for Trump, followed closely by Houston, Texas (19,289). Phoenix, Arizona with 17,294 detainers issued during the four years of the Trump presidency was in third place. Just twelve (12) cities in the country received 5,000 or more detainers during the Trump years. A total of twenty-five (25) cities received 3,000 or more.[4]

Most of these top 25 communities received more detainers during the Trump years. Table 1 shows the percentage difference for each of the top 25 cities. Nationally, 50 percent more detainers were issued during the Trump years. Cities with percentages above 50 percent reflect greater than average targeting of these communities by Trump. For example, 100 percent more detainers were issued for Los Angeles, California, by ICE under Trump than under Biden. Other cities with a similar dynamic include Phoenix, Arizona at 109 percent and Las Vegas, Nevada with 184 percent more arrests during the Trump years.

In contrast, percentages of less than 50 percent reflect proportionately lower issuances than the average between FY 2017 to FY 2020. Examples include Houston, Texas with 37 percent, Santa Ana, California with 36 percent, and Miami, Florida with 39 percent.

A few of these top 25 cities received the same or fewer detainers during the Trump presidency than under Biden. These included Edinburg, Texas (no difference); San Francisco, California (2% fewer detainers issued by Trump than Biden); and Van Nuys, California (4% fewer detainers) during the Trump administration.

Figure 3 features the top 25 towns based on locations receiving a greater number of detainers during the Biden administration. They are then ranked by the detainer numbers issued. The list shows a mixture of major cities and numerous smaller places. Jacksonville, Florida (ranked by the U.S. Census as the 10th largest city), Ft. Worth, Texas (ranked as the 12th largest city) and San Jose, California (ranked as the 13th largest city) received more detainers during the Biden administration than under Trump.[5]

Topping the Biden list, however, is Dilley, Texas. Although the Dolph Briscoe Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is located there, this prison was established in 1992 and currently is listed as a medium-security prison which can accommodate 1,342 detainees. Yet ICE records do not show any detainers issued for this LEA until FY 2021.[6]

In second place was San Jose, California. LEAs in that city received more detainers under Biden than were sent by Trump officials. Similarly, LEAs in Del Rio, Texas received more detainers during the Biden presidency than under Trump, as did Riverside, California, Fairfax, Virginia and Jacksonville, Florida. See Figure 3 for the rest of the top 25 cities receiving more Biden detainers than were previously issued during the Trump presidency.

Characteristics of Noncitizens Targeted by ICE Detainers

Detainers are supposed to be targeted at noncitizens who have committed crimes here in the U.S. ICE records indicated that 97 percent of all detainers issued during the Biden years were for immigrants who had been charged or convicted of a crime. For Trump, the figure was more or less the same with 96 percent of all detainers issued to a noncitizen who had been charged or convicted of a crime. Detailed criminal histories, however, continue to be unlawfully withheld so only the most serious criminal conviction was provided.

The announced priorities of the Biden administration are that detainers should be targeted for immigrants committing particularly serious crimes. ICE labels its most serious category as Level 1 crimes. Because ICE withheld criminal histories, TRAC only has information on the seriousness level of what ICE considered the most serious criminal conviction. These usually are what it describes as aggravated felonies. Focusing just on the information on convictions, ICE records indicated that under Trump, only 8 percent of convictions were these most serious Level 1 crimes. During Biden, the percentage was 16 percent, or twice the proportion. And Trump had the higher proportion of detainers issued for the least serious Level 3 (misdemeanor) convictions – 52 percent. For Biden the percentage was 45 percent. Recent months, however, have more detainers where the charge(s) were still pending. Thus, it is possible that as results continue to be updated some shifts in these percentages may occur.

Details by time period of the specific crimes involved based on ICE records are available using TRAC’s free online dashboard previously referenced. Offense categories utilize the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) coding system maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Noncitizens Issued Detainers by Country of Citizenship

The country of citizenship for detainers issued during the Trump and Biden years remained similar. Noncitizens from Mexico have consistently had the largest number of detainers. Mexicans make up well over half of those on whom detainers were issued. Next were the three countries in the Northern Triangle of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. While Guatemalans were second during the Trump years, noncitizens from Honduras were a slightly larger component thus far during the Biden administration. See Table 2.

Ideally, we would want to see whether these proportions simply reflect the proportion of unauthorized individuals in the U.S. by their country of citizenship. Not surprisingly there aren’t such detailed data available with a comparable 8-year time series. Available estimates roughly parallel the distribution of detainers with one notable exception. Individuals from India are estimated to be the country of origin for the fourth largest share of the unauthorized population (5%), slightly above Honduras (4%).[7] However, very few noncitizens from India are recorded as receiving ICE detainers. During the Trump presidency just 0.4 percent of all detainers were issued for noncitizens from India. The proportion was only slightly higher, 0.5 percent, thus far during the Biden presidency.