Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem flew to Los Angeles and conducted a press conference as the city became the focal point of President Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. She stated that the government’s goal was to apprehend criminals who have been on our streets for far too long.
However, information gathered in the days preceding those June 12 hearings indicates that most of the people arrested were not guilty of crimes. Nearly half of the guys were Mexican and of working age.
722 people were arrested in the Los Angeles area during the early stages of the raid, according to data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement from June 1 to June 10. The Deportation Data Project, a UC Berkeley Law enforcement data repository, provided the numbers.
According to a Times investigation, 58% of people detained during that time had never been charged with a crime, and 69% had no previous convictions. Those who were arrested were most typically men, with a median age of 38. El Salvador accounted for 8%, Guatemala for 16%, and Mexico for over 48%.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told The Times, “They’re not chasing drug kingpins, they’re chasing hardworking people through swap meets and Home Depot parking lots.” Everywhere in our city, the effects of these sporadic raids are evident: families are afraid to eat at restaurants, and children are afraid their parents won’t come back from the store because they’ve watched videos of masked men who won’t identify themselves shoving people into unmarked vans.
Even though the Trump administration has been emphasizing that they are going after the worst, a number of data sets made public by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent days demonstrate that, as sweeps become more common in Los Angeles, the proportion of people arrested without a criminal conviction is rising.
The information spans seven counties, ranging from Orange County in the south to San Luis Obispo in the north. According to experts who spoke to The Times, the statistics support the claims of numerous officials and advocates that the majority of arrests are made on the street. Many were carried out outdoors, such as in parking lots at Home Depot, car washes, and street vendors. Los Angeles officials are laying the foundation for a lawsuit, claiming that the absence of designated targets demonstrates that the federal investigators are merely engaging in racial profiling.
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security claim that the efforts are focused.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated that officers conduct due diligence and that DHS enforcement actions are highly targeted. We are aware of our aim in advance. Our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of specific inquiries to ascertain a person’s status and removability if and when we come across someone who is subject to arrest.
According to nonpublic statistics gathered by the Cato Institute, which covers the fiscal year 2025 from October 1 to June 15, the number of persons arrested nationwide without criminal convictions has increased dramatically, and many of those with convictions are nonviolent offenders.
According to David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, ICE is not primarily holding those who pose a threat to public safety. Only 7% of those being detained are very violent criminals, making them a very small percentage.
Data regarding the criminal histories of detainees who were booked into ICE’s custody has not been made public. However, Cato’s nonpublic data revealed that 30% had no criminal history and almost 90% had never been found guilty of a violent or property crime. Traffic and immigration violations are the most common crimes.
That’s significant because, he added, the Department of Homeland Security has made a great issue out of targeting those with major criminal histories in its deportation efforts.
Additionally, he examined data from UC Berkeley Law that shows ICE arrests and discovered that, nationwide, five times as many immigrants without criminal convictions were arrested during the most recent fiscal year than during the same time in 2017. He referred to the figures as “taggering.”He pointed out that the FBI had detained 6,000 people in June alone who had not been found guilty of any crimes.
Seventy-five percent of individuals arrested under this Administration have been illegal aliens with criminal convictions or ongoing accusations, McLaughlin said on Monday.
According to publicly available data, that percentage was 70% during Trump’s second term but has since decreased.
According to the data, during the previous fiscal year, ICE booked 204,297 individuals into detention centers. The number is regarded as a reliable estimate for arrests.
A week prior to Trump’s second term in office, 38% of individuals who were booked had no criminal convictions. By the fifth month of his presidency, that percentage had increased to 63%.
According to nonpublic data, immigration convictions are first among criminal convictions, followed by traffic violations, assaults, and drug offenses.
Bier attributes the change to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who allegedly ordered top ICE officers to start making arrests at 7-Eleven convenience stores and Home Depots in May, in addition to target lists.
The detention system’s capacity is being strained by the broader sweeps; inmates have complained of stale food, filthy towels, and going more than a week without changing their clothes.
Approximately 39,000 people were detained a week prior to Trump’s inauguration. That number increased 42% to 56,397 by June 15.
According to Austin Kocher, an assistant professor who studies immigration statistics at Syracuse University, it’s getting close to a record high.
And that number may increase. The administration has requested funding for 100,000 detention beds from Congress.
This piece was written by Times staff writer Andrea Castillo and statistics and graphics writers Sean Greene and Lorena Elebee.
