MINNEAPOLIS AREA — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's detention population fell by 12% from January to the end of March, according to data released by the agency. The decline was driven primarily by a 21% drop in the average number of detainees without criminal records, though that group remained the largest in ICE custody.

ICE reported an average of about 72,000 people detained daily in January, a figure the agency's data indicated was a record high. By March, that average had fallen to about 63,000. Data for the first week of April showed the detention population continued to decline.

The reduction was steepest among detainees without criminal records. From January to March, the average number of those detainees dropped by 21%. Before January, non-criminal detainees accused of civil immigration violations — such as illegal border crossing or visa overstay — had been the fastest-growing group in ICE custody. The average number of detainees with pending criminal charges declined by 5% over the same period, while those with prior criminal convictions fell by 4%.

Between mid-February and early March, ICE arrested an average of about 1,040 people per day, according to ICE data released in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the Deportation Data Project. About 40% of those arrested during that period did not have criminal records.

ICE data also showed the agency recorded fewer collateral arrests in recent months. A collateral arrest occurs when someone who is not the original target of an enforcement operation is found to be living in the country without legal status and is taken into custody. More than a quarter of ICE arrests at the start of the year were labeled collateral, compared to fewer than one-fifth by early March. ICE began consistently recording the distinction between collateral and targeted arrests in August 2025, and since then most arrests have been marked as targeted. About one-third of those arrested in targeted operations lacked criminal records.

President Trump returned to office and instituted a deportation policy making anyone without lawful U.S. status subject to arrest and detention. ICE has argued that immigrants without U.S. criminal records may have committed crimes in their native countries or pose public safety threats. The agency's self-reported data have not been independently verified, and no immigrant advocates or legal experts provided comment on the implications of the decline.