Twice the number of detainers were issued for criminal illegal foreign nationals under the Trump administration than the Biden administration, according to a new analysis of federal data published by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). The nonprofit data research center is affiliated with the Newhouse School of Public Communications and Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.
Detainers are issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), otherwise known as “immigration holds,” to apprehend and detain often violent individuals wanted for a crime in another country, arrested or convicted of one in the U.S., or placed in removal proceedings by a federal immigration judge.
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris has long called for abolishing ICE, defunding ICE detention facilities, and defunding ICE agent positions. President Donald Trump has said he will expand ICE funding and implement a massive deportation strategy if elected.
TRAC’s report compares the latest detainer-by-detainer ICE records it received, which show that detainers climbed under the Biden-Harris administration since February 2023. The report fails to explain that the increase occurred after the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a major blow to Texas and Louisiana, which sued to block a deportation directive issued by U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. In 2021, he instructed ICE agents to stop arresting most illegal foreign nationals and only prioritize violent criminals. The Biden-Harris administration also reduced funding for ICE detention facilities and staff. After the ruling, ICE resumed identifying the most violent offenders for removal, DHS announced, prompting the numbers to climb.
ICE officials “have regularly issued more than 10,000 [detainers] each month,” the report states. From fiscal 2021 through the first quarter of fiscal 2024, the administration issued just under 300,000 detainers that were sent to 4,305 local law enforcement agencies.
Those in California received the most with more than 7,800. The report fails to mention that California’s sanctuary state law prohibits local law enforcement officials from cooperating with ICE agents, including ignoring detainer requests. California sheriffs argue this has increased crime that’s devasting communities and California has become “an open territory for the cartel to do whatever it wants.”
The next greatest number of detainers issued was in Texas, with the most in the country in Houston of more than 10,000. The report fails to mention that the Democratic leaders of Houston and Harris County have implemented sanctuary policies discouraging cooperation with ICE.
Phoenix, Arizona, received the third largest number of ICE detainers of more than 6,600, according to the report.
By contrast, under the Trump administration, 50% more ICE detainers were issued from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2020, according to the data. Detainers were issued to roughly the same number of local law enforcement agencies. The report fails to explain that this number is relatively constant because the detainers are issued in major metropolitan areas, like Houston and Los Angeles, where large county jails and ICE offices are located.
Under the Trump administration, the most detainers were issued in Los Angeles of 20,318, followed by 19,289 in Houston and 17,294 in Phoenix. Twelve cities nationwide received 5,000 or more detainers; 25 received 3,000 or more under the Trump administration, according to the data.
The report also includes interactive maps to allow users to click on regions of the country to identify where ICE issued detainers under each administration. They can also access information about counties, states, local law enforcement agencies and the criminal foreign nationals for which detainers were issued.
The report notes that many detention facilities are located closer to the U.S.-Mexico border. Facilities in Edinburgh and Dilley, Texas, for example, hold the fourth and sixth largest number of criminal foreign nationals, respectively. Dilley is where a large state prison is located and Edinburgh is located near some of the largest U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facilities in the country in the Rio Grande Valley. They are also located where Texas law enforcement officers are actively participating in Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star, who regularly cooperate with ICE.
The majority of cities where double the number of detainers were issued under Trump compared to Biden are located in Texas, followed by California. The most were issued in Los Angeles, Houston, Phoenix, Dallas, Edinburg, Santa Ana, Calif., Lawrenceville, Ga., Miami, Las Vegas, San Antonio, Big Spring, Texas, Taft, Calif., Austin, Queens, Phillipsburg, Penn., Brooklyn, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Huntsville, San Francisco, Raleigh, Ventura, Calif., Dublin, Calif., Conroe, Texas, and Van Nuys, Calif.
Twenty-five towns also received more detainers under the Biden administration than Trump, according to the data. The report fails to explain that the top cities listed are located in Texas is because Abbott expanded state facilities there through OLS. They are located in Dilley, Del Rio, and El Paso, where The Center Square has visited. They are also located in other regions like Odessa and Forth Worth, whose sheriffs and local law enforcement are participating in OLS.
More than 100 Texas sheriffs, and hundreds of leaders of 55 Texas counties that declared an invasion, have expressed support for OLS. They’ve also urged the Biden-Harris administration to close the border and deport criminals they argue are wreaking havoc on their communities.
