Independent

Detention Stats

DetentionStats.com is an independent data visualization project that presents publicly available immigration detention data released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The goal is to make this data more accessible, understandable, and transparent to the general public, policymakers, researchers, and journalists.

The visualizations on this site are generated from ICE's biweekly detention statistics, which are published without access restrictions on ice.gov. This site does not alter the data beyond cleaning and organizing it for clarity and usability in public-facing dashboards.

This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. All visualizations are derived directly from data published by DHS and ICE — no editorial interpretation has been applied to the figures.

About DetentionStats.com
The Project
The Dashboard
The Agencies
Glossary
Sources

About This Project

Immigration detention in the United States is vast, complex, and often difficult to understand. ICE publishes detailed statistics, but those numbers are frequently buried in spreadsheets with little context. This project aims to make those figures easier to interpret and explore — whether you're a researcher, journalist, policymaker, advocate, or curious member of the public.

What's Included

  • The number of people detained by ICE and CBP each month
  • Criminality classifications (convicted, pending charges, non-criminal)
  • Facility-level data, including population breakdowns and average length of stay
  • Geographic trends and comparisons by state
  • Year-over-year comparisons across FY24, FY25, and FY26 including ATD and bond statistics

All visualizations are updated using ICE's biweekly dataset, available on ice.gov.

DetentionStats.com is not affiliated with or endorsed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or any government agency. This project was developed independently for educational and public interest purposes.

About This Dashboard

DetentionStats.com visualizes data from ICE on individuals detained in the United States. The dashboard is updated biweekly and reflects data as published in ICE's Detention Management Statistics spreadsheets.

Key Terminology

  • Convicted — A noncitizen convicted in a court of law for a criminal offense
  • Pending — A noncitizen with criminal charges currently pending adjudication
  • Other Immigration Violator — A noncitizen with no criminal conviction or pending charge, detained for administrative or immigration violations such as unauthorized entry or visa overstay
  • ALOS — Average Length of Stay: the mean number of days a person remains in ICE custody during a reporting period
  • ALIP — Average Length in Program: the mean number of days a participant has been enrolled in an ATD supervision program
  • ADP — Average Daily Population: the average number of individuals held in detention on any given day within a reporting period
  • ATD — Alternatives to Detention: electronic monitoring programs (ankle monitors, SmartLINK app check-ins) used to supervise people in the community instead of holding them in a facility
  • Bond — A sum of money set by an immigration judge that a detainee must pay to be released from custody while their case proceeds. If paid, the person is released but must continue attending hearings
  • Segregation Placement — The isolation of a detainee from the general detention population, typically in a single-occupancy cell. May occur for disciplinary, protective, medical, or security reasons

Facility Comparison Indicators

In the Facilities tab, each numeric column shows a ▲ or ▼ indicator comparing the current snapshot against the previous dataset release. Hover over any triangle to see the exact change.

Timeline and Reporting Period

  • ICE reports data according to the U.S. Fiscal Year (FY), which runs October 1 – September 30
  • The current reporting period is FY2026 (October 2025 – September 2026)
  • Month filters follow fiscal year order (Oct → Sep)

Agencies Involved

ICE — Immigration and Customs Enforcement

  • Primary Role: Detains noncitizens already inside the United States
  • Funding: The OBBBA (July 2025) allocated $45 billion for ICE detention expansion over four years — bringing ICE's total detention budget to over $14 billion in FY2025, more than 400% greater than FY2024 detention funding

CBP — Customs and Border Protection

  • Primary Role: Conducts immigration enforcement at ports of entry and along the border
  • Detention Data: CBP detention counts are included for comparative purposes; most long-term detentions are managed by ICE

Funding figures sourced from OMB apportionment data, DHS congressional budget justifications, and independent policy analysis.

Acronym & Term Glossary

OBBBA
One Big Beautiful Bill Act — a budget reconciliation law enacted July 4, 2025, directing ~$191 billion to DHS immigration enforcement, including $45 billion for ICE detention expansion.
ICE
Immigration and Customs Enforcement — the federal agency primarily responsible for interior immigration enforcement and detention.
CBP
Customs and Border Protection — the federal agency responsible for border enforcement and short-term detention at ports of entry.
DHS
Department of Homeland Security — the cabinet department that oversees both ICE and CBP.
ATD
Alternatives to Detention — supervision programs (e.g., ankle monitors, SmartLINK check-ins) used as non-custodial alternatives to physical detention.
ALOS
Average Length of Stay — the mean number of days a detainee remains in custody during a reporting period.
ALIP
Average Length in Program — the mean number of days a participant has been enrolled in an ATD supervision program.
FY
Fiscal Year — the U.S. government's accounting year, running October 1 through September 30. FY26 = October 2025 – September 2026.
YoY
Year-over-Year — a comparison of data across multiple fiscal years to identify trends over time.
SmartLINK
A mobile app-based ATD supervision technology requiring regular check-ins via facial recognition, used as an alternative to physical detention.
Bond
A sum of money set by an immigration judge that a detainee must pay to be released from custody while their immigration case proceeds. Paying bond does not resolve the case — the person must continue attending hearings.
Segregation Placement
The isolation of a detainee from the general detention population, typically in a single-occupancy cell. May occur for disciplinary, protective, medical, mental health, or facility security reasons.
Chi-Square Test
A statistical test used to determine whether differences in proportions between groups are real or likely due to chance. Used in the Year-over-Year tab to assess changes in the criminality composition of ICE detainees across fiscal years.
Mann-Kendall Test
A non-parametric statistical test used to detect whether a consistent upward or downward trend exists in time series data. Applied to monthly ALOS data to assess whether average detention length is genuinely trending over time.
Cramér's V
A measure of the strength of association between two categorical variables, ranging from 0 (no association) to 1 (perfect association). Used to quantify the effect size of the chi-square test result.
p-value
The probability that an observed result occurred by chance. A p-value below 0.05 is conventionally considered statistically significant — meaning the finding is unlikely to be due to random variation.

Sources

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE Detention Statistics — FY2024, FY2025, FY2026.
https://www.ice.gov/detain/detention-management
U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2025). FY 2026 ICE Congressional Budget Justification.
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2025-06/25_0613_ice_fy26-congressional-budget-justificatin.pdf
U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2024). Congressional Budget Justification – FY 2025.
https://www.dhs.gov/publication/congressional-budget-justification-fiscal-year-fy-2025
National Immigration Forum. (2025). Immigration Detention Costs in a Time of Mass Deportation.
https://forumtogether.org/article/immigration-detention-costs-in-a-time-of-mass-deportation/
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. About CBP.
https://www.cbp.gov/about
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. About ICE.
https://www.ice.gov/about-ice
Statistical analyses in the Year-over-Year tab use standard non-parametric methods (Mann-Kendall trend test, Wilcoxon rank-sum test, chi-square test) applied directly to ICE's published figures. No data has been altered or reinterpreted.
FY25 Loading…

Monthly Book-Ins by Agency

CBP vs ICE — Book-Ins per Month
CBP
ICE

Segregation Placements by Month — Public vs Private Facilities

Monthly Segregation Placements
Public Facilities
Private Facilities

Positive Fear Determination — Avg Days Still in Custody

Single Adults w/ Positive Fear Determination Still Detained — Avg Days (Chronological)

A positive fear determination means an asylum officer has found a person has a credible fear of persecution — yet many remain in detention while awaiting further proceedings. This chart shows the average number of days those individuals spend in custody each month, plotted chronologically across all available fiscal years. Data is incomplete for some periods and is shown where available.

Detained Population by State — Top 10

Total Detained Population by State
Criminal Record
No Criminal Record

Monthly Book-Ins — Current vs Prior FY

CBP CBP
ICE ICE

Book-Ins Table

Agency Month Count

Criminality — Average Daily Population Over Time

CBP CBP
ICE ICE

Criminality of Population by State

State Male — Criminal Record Male — No Criminal Record Female — Criminal Record Female — No Criminal Record Total w/ Criminal Record Total w/o Criminal Record Total Population % w/ Criminal Record Split

Facility Data

▲ increase   ▼ decrease   since previous dataset — hover for exact change
Facility City State ALOS (days) Male — Criminal Record Male — No Criminal Record Female — Criminal Record Female — No Criminal Record Total Pop.

Alternatives to Detention (ATD) — FY24 / FY25 / FY26

ATD Active Population by FY
Avg Length in ATD Program (Days)

ATD Supervision Technology Mix

ATD Participants by Technology — FY24 / FY25 / FY26

Bond Statistics — Multi-Year Trend

Average Length of Stay (Days) — Monthly
Bond Rate (% of Book-Outs Released on Bond) — Monthly
Average Bond Amount ($) — Monthly

Statistical Analysis

Who Is Being Detained — A Statistically Significant Shift

A chi-square test on ICE Average Daily Population data across FY2024, FY2025, and FY2026 reveals a statistically significant change in the composition of who is being detained (χ² = 227.62, df = 2, p < 0.0001).

36.8%
FY2024
No criminal record
41.6%
FY2025
No criminal record
40.8%
FY2026 YTD
No criminal record

In FY2024, approximately 1 in 3 people in ICE custody had no criminal record. By FY2025 and FY2026, that figure had grown to closer to 2 in 5 — a shift of +4.1 percentage points over two years. The effect size is small (Cramér's V = 0.04), reflecting that the proportional change is modest, but the statistical significance is robust given the large population sizes involved.

Chi-square test on ICE ADP fy_overall figures · FY24: n=37,745 · FY25: n=46,056 · FY26: n=56,434 · All figures sourced directly from ICE Detention Management Statistics