Amid Spike in Detainers ICE Takes Custody of Only 14% of Illegal Immigrants in Local Jails

Inconsistent with the Trump administration’s actions of securing the southwest border and mass deportations to crack down on illegal immigration is a strange failure to take custody of illegal aliens arrested by local police under a federal-local partnership known as 287(g). Under the policy local and state law enforcement agencies notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of jail inmates in the country illegally and honor ICE requests—detainers—to hold undocumented migrants for up to 48 hours beyond the time they would ordinarily release them so the agency can take custody and deport them. The Biden administration drastically diminished the measure but under Trump cooperation has skyrocketed and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently celebrated a “317% increase in federal/state partner agreements” that has resulted in hundreds of migrant apprehensions, including violent gang members, murderers, rapists and drug traffickers.

The program, which currently has 517 participants in 39 states, operates under three models, including jail enforcement designed to identify and process removal of aliens with criminal or pending criminal charges, task force to allow law enforcement agencies to enforce limited immigration authority during routine police duties and a warrant service officer program that permits ICE to train, certify and authorize local officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on aliens in their jail. The latest 287(g) monthly encounter report published by ICE includes alarming examples of criminal aliens deported under the program thanks to local authorities around the country—including in Arizona, Florida, Arkansas, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Massachusetts—and emphasizes how 287(g) enhances the safety and security of communities by creating partnerships with local police to identify and remove illegal aliens from the United States. “The mutually beneficial agreements allow state and local law enforcement to act as a force multiplier in the identification, arrest, and service of warrants and detainers on foreign-born individuals arrested on local criminal charges,” ICE writes in the report.

But government figures reveal that only 14% of illegal immigrants in local jails with ICE detainers have been taken into custody by the federal agency, despite the sharp increase in detainers issued since Trump took office. During Trump’s first presidency ICE assumed custody of 62% of illegal immigrants in local jails, according to the stats, which are featured in a new report published by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a nonpartisan data research center dedicated to studying the inner workings of the federal government. The data shows that, during the first 29 days of the second Trump administration the number of daily ICE detainers rose to 654 compared to just 380 during the same 29-day period under Biden. The average daily number of detainers issued rose from 654 during the first 29 days to 715 during the subsequent 29 days, through March 18, 2025, the records show. “Often, ICE did not follow through and take these individuals into custody,” TRAC researchers found.

Most ICE detainers (44%) were issued against illegal immigrants from Mexico, with Guatemalans second at 11% and Hondurans 10%. The TRAC report breaks down the government figures by state and city. During the period analyzed ICE issued 3,450 detainers in Texas but only took 428 of the illegal aliens into custody. California was second with 3,203 detainers during the first 29 days of the second Trump administration and just 63 taken into federal custody for removal. In Florida ICE issued 1,891 detainers and took 607 into custody and in Georgia the agency issued 922 detainers while taking 146 into custody. Cities with the most detainers include Houston, Texas (557), Miami, Florida (467), Phoenix, Arizona (394), Los Angeles, California (317), Dallas (268), San Antonio (241), and Austin (222) Texas. Strangely, ICE did not take custody of any of the hundreds of illegal immigrants held in local jails in Houston, San Antonio or Austin and took custody of only one of the 317 arrested in Los Angeles.

This appears to contradict the agency’s long-standing claim that detainers “are an essential tool needed to apprehend and deport individuals not authorized to remain in the U.S.” The TRAC report says, “ICE did not release any information that might explain why the number of individuals taken into custody precipitously dropped.” Nevertheless, the figures confirm that as the agency “cranked up the daily number of detainers it sent out,” fewer illegal immigrants were taken into custody from local law enforcement agencies compared to Trump’s first term.

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