Overview
- A new trove of ICE arrest records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act case shows that in Minnesota about two-thirds of the roughly 4,000 arrests involved people with no criminal convictions or pending charges, and in Maine about 80% were booked only for civil immigration violations.
- DHS and the White House dispute the picture, saying agents target the worst offenders and citing nationwide figures that most detainees have convictions or charges, while researchers note differences in how the agencies categorize criminal history.
- In Minnesota, 97% of arrests during the surge were non-custodial street arrests, and about 35% were listed as collateral rather than targeted stops, signaling broad sweeps rather than transfers from jails.
- The data point to distinct community impacts, with Ecuadorians making up more than a quarter of Minnesota arrestees and Angolans the largest group in Maine, while relatively few people listed as Somali citizens were arrested despite high-profile rhetoric.
- Reporters caution the dataset is incomplete, with duplicates and missing fields, and note that some detainees have since challenged their arrests in court and won release as legal and public scrutiny of the operations continues.