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Raids are no longer what they used to be. What once appeared to target dangerous criminals is now affecting thousands of migrants with no criminal history, many of whom have families, jobs, and lives built in the United States.
A new analysis from the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley reveals a drastic shift in immigration policy: detentions of undocumented immigrants with no prior records increased by 770% during the first year of the current administration, while street arrests skyrocketed by more than 1,000%.
The change is significant. It means that more and more people are being arrested outside of prisons or detention centers, whether in their homes, at courthouses, or even when attending immigration appointments.
The report also reveals something that contradicts the official narrative. While the government has defended these measures as a way to combat crime, the data shows that the majority of those arrested do not pose a violent threat. In fact, less than 14% of the arrested individuals had serious criminal records, while a large portion was detained solely for immigration violations.
At the same time, the detention system is also becoming harsher. There are increasingly fewer bail releases and more transfers to detention centers, making it more difficult for migrants to defend their cases while being free.
The result is a growing atmosphere of fear within migrant communities. Raids are no longer limited to the border, but occur inside the country, where millions of Latinos live, now feeling that they could be detained at any moment.
An internal document from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) obtained by CBS News indicates that between January 21, 2025 and January 31, 2026, ICE made approximately 392,619 arrests, of which less than 14% had charges or convictions for violent crimes.
The percentage of detainees with a criminal record decreased from 72% recorded in fiscal year 2024 to 60% in the most recent period, confirming the trend toward the arrest of individuals without a criminal history.
The government of Donald Trump rejects the conclusions of the report and accuses the University of California, Berkeley of showing "only the data that interests them." A spokesperson for the DHS stated to NBC News that 70% of ICE arrests involve immigrants with criminal records, and that the agency targets the worst of the worst, including gang members, pedophiles, and rapists.
The spokesperson added that all the arrested individuals committed a federal crime by entering the country illegally, an argument that the administration uses to justify the detention of people without prior criminal records. The Deportation Data Project emphasized that its analysis uses raw data from ICE obtained directly through litigation, with a completely transparent methodology.
A previous study by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) had already documented that arrests of Latinos without criminal records sextupled between February and September 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, with an average of 6,000 Latinos without prior records entering detention centers each month, compared to approximately 900 per month under the Biden administration.
The UCLA researchers described these detainees as "law-abiding members of society who contribute."
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