ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Statistics

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers enforce immigration laws within the interior to preserve national security and public safety.

ERO manages all aspects of the immigration enforcement process, including the identification, arrest, detention and removal of noncitizens who are subject to removal or are unlawfully present in the United States.

Like all law enforcement agencies, ERO officers prioritize their enforcement actions based on agency and department priorities, funding and capacity. ERO operations are flexible enough to allow its officers to respond to events such as spikes in border crossings, modifications to U.S. laws, pandemics, and natural disasters at home and abroad.

The following dashboards present for the first time information and trends in arrests, detentions, removals and alternatives to detention as of September 30, 2024.

The dashboards will be updated quarterly.

Arrest Statistics

ERO enforces laws by arresting immigration violators in the interior of the United States. It relies on statutory law enforcement authority to identify and arrest noncitizens who may present threats to national security or public safety, or who otherwise undermine the integrity of U.S. immigration laws. ERO uses targeted, intelligence-driven operations to prioritize its enforcement actions in ways that help protect communities nationwide. While ERO primarily conducts administrative arrests of noncitizens it has probable cause to believe are removable from the United States, it also has the authority to execute criminal arrest warrants and initiate prosecutions for criminal activity, including immigration-related crimes. ERO officers assigned to task forces also help target and apprehend foreign fugitives in the United States who are wanted for crimes here and abroad by working with domestic and international partners.

• Arrests by country of citizenship and criminal history: ERO arrests are broken down by country of citizenship and categories of criminal history that include people with:
  • U.S. criminal convictions.
  • Pending criminal charges in the United States.
  • No convictions or pending charges but who have broken U.S. immigration laws including visa overstays and Visa Waiver Program violators.*
    
    *This category includes those who have repeatedly violated U.S. law by reentering after deportation, immigration fugitives with an executable final order of removal, and international fugitives wanted for crimes committed abroad.
  • For fiscal years 2021 and 2022, this category also includes individuals apprehended while attempting to unlawfully enter the United States after January 1, 2021.
• ERO arrests over time: Historically, ERO most commonly arrests immigration violators with convictions involving DUI, drug possession, assault and criminal (non-civil) traffic offenses such as hit-and-run or leaving the scene of an accident.
• Arrests by Area of Responsibility (AOR): ERO has 25 field offices, which are geographic areas of responsibility, around the country, each headed by a field office director.

Detention Statistics

ERO oversees the civil immigration detention of one of the most diverse and rapidly changing detained populations in the world. The ERO Headquarters Custody Management and ICE Health Service Corps divisions help officers in the field manage the detained population and ensure detained noncitizens’ health and safety, ensure compliance with ICE’s detention standards, and provide medical care — including mental health care — to detained individuals.

ICE detains individuals as necessary, including to secure their presence for immigration proceedings and removal from the United States. ICE also detains those who are subject to mandatory detention under U.S. immigration law and those a supervisor has determined are public safety or flight risks.

After ICE arrests and processes individuals for administrative immigration violations or CBP and other state, local and federal law enforcement partners turn them over to ICE, officials may detain them while their immigration cases are pending or release them under a form of supervision. Both ICE and the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review — the office that oversees the immigration court system — can impact custody status at various points during a noncitizen’s immigration proceedings.

Officials make custody determinations on an individual basis, taking into account all facets of a person’s situation, including their immigration history and criminal records. Authorities also consider family ties, humanitarian issues and whether a person may be a flight risk.

Whenever possible, ICE seeks to house detained individuals within the geographical areas of their arrests to minimize their time in ICE custody and keep them close to family, friends and legal representatives.

Most detained individuals are transfers from CBP following arrests at the border. ICE is legally obligated to detain some of these people, including those with certain criminal histories.

If a noncitizen or their representative believes they should not be subject to enforcement, detention or removal, they should contact their local ERO field office to request a case review or initiate the ICE Case Review process. People who want to contact ICE about their cases should first notify their local ERO field office via email with supporting documentation for an initial review.

• Detention by country of citizenship and criminal history: Detained individuals are categorized in the following ways:
  • Individuals with criminal convictions.
  • Individuals with pending criminal charges.
  • Those with no convictions or pending charges but who have broken U.S. immigration laws.*
    
    *The third category includes individuals without any known criminal convictions or pending charges who have repeatedly violated U.S. law by reentering after deportation; immigration fugitives with a final order of removal by an immigration judge; and foreign fugitives wanted for crimes committed abroad.
• Detention over time: Most detained individuals are transfers from CBP following arrests made at the border. Higher numbers of border crossings are typically associated with higher detention numbers.

Removals & Expulsions

ICE’s authority to remove noncitizens exists under the Immigration and Nationality Act pursuant to Title 8 of the U.S. Code, sometimes called “Title 8 authority.”

Between March 2020 and May 2023, the Department of Homeland Security quickly expelled irregular border crossers from the United States under a public health order the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued March 21, 2020, sometimes called “Title 42 authority.”

Title 8: ICE principally removes noncitizens from the United States after they have received a final order of removal. These removal operations require complex coordination, management and facilitation efforts to successfully remove and return noncitizens from the United States. ERO accomplishes this mission through charter flights and on commercial airlines for escorted and unescorted removals, in addition to ground transportation missions on the northern and southern borders and at ports of entry.

ERO’s highest-profile removals generally comprise fugitives wanted for serious crimes in other countries, such as homicide, gang-related offenses, corruption and fraud. Often, these individuals come to ERO’s attention because of Interpol notices. Other high-profile removals include known or suspected terrorists, those involved in counterproliferation crimes, and those on the terrorist watch list and no-fly list. War criminals and others convicted or suspected of committing human rights abuses — including torture, ethnic cleansing and genocide — are also in this category. Authorities escort high-profile removals out of the country via commercial flights, regularly scheduled ICE charter flights and special high-risk charters. In many cases, the individuals are turned over to law enforcement authorities in their home country to face charges or sentencing.

Title 42: Title 42 is a public health authority guided by the CDC and is not an immigration authority. On March 21, 2020, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services transferred Title 42 Public Health Authority to CBP. Under Title 42, CBP prohibited the entry of certain people who potentially posed a health risk by being subject to previously announced travel restrictions or having unlawfully entered the country to bypass health screening measures. Under Title 42 authority, DHS rapidly expelled irregular border crossers to their country of last transit — Canada or Mexico — or, when such an expulsion was not possible, interagency partners engaged foreign government officials to secure noncitizens’ expulsion to their countries of origin.

ICE served a role in transporting noncitizens expelled under Title 42 via ICE charter flights.

The data in the chart below represents only Title 42 expulsions conducted by ICE via ICE charter flights. Effective May 11, 2023, President Joe Biden declared the end of the COVID-19 national emergency.

Comprehensive data related to Title 42 expulsions for the United States is available through CBP. For additional information, please visit CBP's Title 42 statistical report.

Alternatives to Detention (ATD)

The Alternatives to Detention (ATD) program’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program is a noncitizen compliance tool overseen by ERO.

ATD uses technology and case management to more closely monitor cases assigned to the non-detained docket where detention is not necessary or appropriate. The level of supervision and technology participants are assigned is based on their current immigration status, criminal history, compliance history, community or family ties, caregiver or provider status, and other humanitarian or medical conditions. Officials may enroll noncitizens in ATD following a border apprehension by CBP or an ICE interior administrative arrest, or at a later stage in removal proceedings.

In fiscal year 2023, ICE’s ATD program deployed the following types of monitoring:

• Facial matching technology: Facial matching technology allows participants to report compliance via an app installed on a noncitizen’s own smartphone or a dedicated government-issued device.
• GPS monitoring: Satellites track participants’ location to ensure compliance with conditions of release.
• Telephonic reporting (telephonic check-in): Phone calls are compared against a voiceprint obtained during enrollment.
• Wrist worn device: Provides GPS monitoring, facial matching, and virtual case management functionality, including virtual check-ins and reminders. ICE is conducting a limited deployment of 50 wrist worn devices in the Denver AOR.

Additional Resources

• ICE Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Report
• ICE Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Report
• ICE Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Report
• ICE Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Report
• ICE Annual Report Fiscal Year 2020
• Fiscal Year 2020 Enforcement and Removal Operations Report | Local Statistics 2020
• Fiscal Year 2020 Homeland Security Investigations
• Fiscal Year 2019 Enforcement and Removal Operations | Local Statistics 2019
• Fiscal Year 2019 Homeland Security Investigations
• Fiscal Year 2018 Enforcement and Removal Operations | Local Statistics 2018
• Fiscal Year 2018 Homeland Security Investigations
• Fiscal Year 2017 Enforcement and Removal Operations | Local Statistics 2017
• Fiscal Year 2017 Homeland Security Investigations
• Fiscal Year 2016 Enforcement and Removal Operations | Local Statistics 2013-2016
• Fiscal Year 2016 Homeland Security Investigations
• Fiscal Year 2015 Enforcement and Removal Operations
• Fiscal Year 2014 Enforcement and Removal Operations
• Fiscal Year 2013 ICE Immigration Removals

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*Records with less than 10 noncitizens are excluded for privacy reasons.

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