Mapped: How Many People Are ICE Detaining?

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Mapped: How Many People Are ICE Detaining?

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The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Homeland Security umbrella. Its duty is to enforce federal laws regarding border control, customs, trade, and immigration. However, today, ICE detentions have been at the center of a national conversation due to aggressive deportations.

This chart, created by USAFacts, explores the average daily population of ICE detention centers in February 2025.

Who Are ICE?

ICE, established in 2002 as a  Department of Homeland Security division, enforces U.S. customs and trade laws. It also manages programs to identify, arrest, and unlawfully remove people in the country. 

ICE controls 122 detainee holding centers nationwide, a quarter of which are in states along the US-Mexico border. 

However, the most populated centers include the Adams County Detention Center in Natchez, Mississippi (2,148 average daily detainees in February 2025); the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas (1,666); and the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia (1,559). 

Many ICE detentions occurred in February 2025. Below is a table showing the average daily population in ICE detention centers during that month.

ICE Detentions in Recent Years

Between October 2014 and November 2024, ICE detentions totaled 3.62 million, which involved physically transferring people to detention facilities.

Book-ins were highest in 2019, at 510,850. But, they were at a 10-year low in 2020—the first year of the pandemic—at 182,870. Mexican citizens comprised the largest share of people booked (31.1%), followed by Guatemalans (17.1%) and Hondurans (12.8%).

Between October 2018 and November 2024, about 29.0% of detainees had a criminal record in the United States. In the previous year, among those detainees with criminal records, 43.8% were convicted of misdemeanors, 35.2% of felonies, and 17.0% of aggravated felonies.

A National Conversation

ICE aims to enforce the U.S. federal border control laws regarding customs, trade, and immigration. However, the agency has been at the center of a national conversation over the aggressive deportations of many foreign nationals.

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