Why this matters

The Trump administration has promised to deport “the worst of the worst including gang members, murderers, and rapists,” but new data shows that 54% of those arrested in San Diego and Imperial counties since Jan. 20 had no criminal background.

Starting in May, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials dramatically ramped up arrests in the San Diego area and increasingly targeted immigrants without existing criminal histories, according to an inewsource analysis of arrest data.

The data, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, were published online by the Deportation Data Project, a group of attorneys and academics that studies the U.S. Immigration system.

The data show that ICE officers under President Donald Trump have made about four times the arrests in San Diego and Imperial counties each day as they did under former President Joe Biden.

Since Trump took office, officers have arrested an average of seven people per day, compared to less than two per day during the last two years of Biden’s term, according to the data.

As the Trump administration seeks to carry out the largest deportation campaign in United States history, its top officials have emphasized they are going after the “worst of the worst.”

However, inewsource’s data analysis suggests that as ICE officers accelerate arrests, they’re also capturing a greater share of people who do not have criminal convictions or pending charges on their records.

The data only include administrative arrests: when ICE makes an arrest for a civil violation of immigration laws, such as being in the U.S. without permission from the government. ICE can also make criminal arrests, but according to the researchers those are not likely to be included in this data.

About this data

This data was sourced through the Deportation Data Project, which sued the federal government for arrest data and published it online last month.

It has some limitations, including a small number of duplicate entries, which when removed do not significantly change our analysis. The data also do not indicate how many of the criminal convictions or charges were for immigration crimes, or more serious offenses.

Our findings in this story are based on the original data as it was published by the Deportation Data Project, however they do not include arrests made by Border Patrol, which is normally focused on preventing illegal crossings on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Despite the limitations, the data provides a uniquely comprehensive window into who the Trump administration is targeting for deportations, at a time when ICE has not published reliable, consistent data for the public.

Before May, only about a third of ICE arrests in San Diego and Imperial counties were of people who had no criminal histories. Compare that to the first ten days in June, the most recent data available, when nearly three out of every four lacked criminal histories, according to the data.

ICE is expecting a big boost that could further fuel arrests and deportations. On Friday, the president signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the massive domestic policy bill that will now give ICE nearly $30 billion to hire more officers and expand its tools and facilities.

ICE officials did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Since Trump took office in January through June 10, ICE has arrested about 1,000 people in San Diego and Imperial counties:

  • More than half were Mexican men.
  • Some 342 have since been deported.
  • Just over half had no criminal histories, a number that is double the national figure.
  • About 14% had pending criminal charges, and 31% had criminal convictions.

The Trump administration is pushing immigration officials to make 3,000 arrests daily across the country — more than triple arrest figures from earlier this year.

How we are covering the Trump administration

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Escalating enforcement, ICE officers have made arrests while masked and wearing plainclothes, detaining people off the street, outside immigration courtrooms, from agricultural fields, and at gas stations, hardware stores, restaurant and car washes across California.

Meanwhile, immigration detention centers are swelling beyond capacity, according to news reports. More than a dozen people have died in those detention centers since October, putting the 2025 fiscal year on track to be one of the deadliest, according to The Guardian.

Type of Content

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.