Recently released data shows the sharp rise of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's activity in North Carolina since the inauguration of President Donald Trump on Jan. 20.
Numbers from the Deportation Data Project begin to show the scope of the Trump administration's directives to fill immigration jails — for example, ICE has made roughly 300 more arrests from Jan. 20 to June 26 this year than it did in all of 2024, a 16% increase.
The Deportation Data Project is a team of researchers based out of UCLA and UC Berkeley who filed Freedom of Information Act requests and litigation to obtain federal data for 2025, 2024 and a part of 2023.
The ICE data on arrests and detainers included below ranges from Jan. 20 to June 26.
ICE arrests nearly triple in 2025
- 1,822 people arrested, a 170% increase from 674 arrests in the same time period in 2024.
- While 46% had criminal convictions, 34% had no criminal convictions, 20% were never charged with a crime other than lacking legal status or presence, which is a civil offense.
- The Charlotte region represented 38% of arrests, while 9% were in a region reported by ICE as "RDU General Area". The Wake County Detention Center represented just 4% of the arrests. There were 15 arrests as part of "Durham County Fugitive Operations" and 17 arrests at the Johnston County jail.
- ICE is arresting fewer convicted criminals — in the same time period last year, 67% of those arrested had convictions, 14% had charges but no convictions and 18% were never charged with a crime other than an immigration violation.
- The majority are men at 92% and mostly Mexican, representing 46% of arrests; 17% from Honduras; 10% from Guatemala; 6% from Venezuela and El Salvador, respectively; 3% from Nicaragua; 2% from Colombia; and 1% from Peru.
Rise in noncitizens detained in local jails
- The number of orders issued by ICE for Sheriffs to hold noncitizens charged with crimes in local jails — known as detainers — rose by 66% to 3,185 from Dec. 1 to June 26 this year. (Dec. 1 is the date House Bill 10 went into effect, which requires local sheriffs to obey ICE detainers if a person without legal presence or status is charged with a crime.)
- The data suggests the majority of detainers are for traffic violations — for the 908 detainers for which charges were reported by ICE, 20% were for a DUI charge; 6% were for unspecified traffic offenses; 6% were for larceny; 6% were for drug trafficking, 5% for assault; 5% and 4% for illegal entry and illegal re-entry, respectively.
- Detainers do not always result in an arrest if ICE officers do not arrive within a 48 hour window to pick up a detainee from when a judicial official signs the detainer order.
