Number of Immigrants Held in Detention Under Biden Reaches 26,222 in June 2021

After months of steady decline, the number of people held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention is on the rise. Since the beginning of May, the downward trend in immigrant detention numbers has turned around and headed upward again. On June 24, 2021*, the number of people held in detention reached 26,222, the highest since June of 2020 over a year ago.

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This sudden growth in detention is not due to increases in ICE arrests, which tend to occur on the “interior” of the United States (i.e. away from the border). Rather, the growth in detention is due entirely to increased arrests from Customs and Border Protection (CBP). You can see this more clearly in the graph below.

We at TRAC, a research organization at Syracuse University, just updated this data in our Quick Facts tools online which you can view by clicking here.

Here are some other detention highlights from our Quick Facts tools:

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement held 26,222 in ICE detention according to data released on June 24, 2021.