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The number of detainees in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody increased to 66,000 this week, setting a new record high as President Trump intensifies his crackdown on illegal immigration, according to internal Department of Homeland Security data obtained by Autos News.

Never before has ICE held so many detainees facing deportation at any given time, according to officials, and immigration policy experts.

ICE's detainee population has ballooned by nearly 70% since Mr. Trump took office for a second time in January, when ICE was holding around 39,000 individuals in its detention system. The previous high before Mr. Trump's second administration was recorded during his first term, in 2019, when ICE held about 56,000 detainees at one point, according to compiled by researchers at Syracuse University.

ICE detains immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally or other noncitizens the government seeks to deport until their cases are adjudicated, unless they are granted bond or released on humanitarian grounds. 

Historically, the agency's detention system has mostly consisted of for-profit prisons and county jails. But, under the second Trump administration, that detention network has been supplemented by and that have been converted into immigration holding sites.

ICE now has enough detention beds to hold as many as 70,000 detainees at any time, up from its 41,500 bed capacity at the beginning of the second Trump administration, a U.S. official told Autos News. That capacity is expected to continue increasing, as in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act just to expand detention levels. Officials have talked about using the unprecedented infusion of funds to operate 100,000 detention beds.

Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, said the genesis behind the dramatic expansion of immigration detention under Mr. Trump is a question of supply and demand. He noted there's a greater need for detention space since the administration has given ICE and Border Patrol agents a broad mandate to arrest anyone in the U.S. illegally, even if they are non-criminals who were not the original targets of operations. 

"The net has hugely widened because of the collateral arrests," Chishti said.

The internal Department of Homeland Security figures show just over half — or around 33,000 — of the individuals in ICE detention as of Thursday morning did not have criminal charges or convictions and were being held solely because of civil immigration violations. ICE calls them "immigration violators." The other half, nearly 33,000 detainees, had criminal charges or convictions, according to the data. 

Since the summer, the fastest growing group of detainees initially arrested by ICE — as opposed to those transferred to the agency's custody by Border Patrol agents — has been comprised of unauthorized immigrants who lack criminal records, show.

It's unclear how many of those in ICE custody with criminal records have been convicted of or charged with violent or serious crimes, as opposed to misdemeanors or immigration-related crimes.

ICE's detainee numbers fluctuate frequently, as the agency routinely deports or releases individuals and admits new detainees. Releases have become less common under the second Trump administration, which has made those who illegally entered the U.S., no matter how long ago, ineligible for bond.  

In a statement to Autos News, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said looking at those arrested by ICE since Mr. Trump took office — as opposed to those currently in custody — would provide a more "accurate account of criminality."

"70% of illegal aliens ICE has arrested have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges just in the U.S," McLaughlin said. "And this statistic doesn't even account for those wanted for violent crimes in their country of origin or another country, INTERPOL notices, human rights abusers, gang members, terrorists."

Chishti, the Migration Policy Institute senior fellow, said the expansion of detention levels has also been driven by ambitious targets some Trump administration officials have set, including what he called "elusive" to carry out 3,000 immigration arrests per day and 1 million deportations each year.

Internal DHS data indicates ICE has carried roughly 278,000 arrests since Mr. Trump's second term started, or an average of 965 a day. When including arrests by Customs and Border Protection, the tally increases to over 520,000, or around 1,800 per day, though that includes CBP arrests along the borders with Mexico and Canada.

Deportations by ICE under the second Trump administration stand at around 380,000, according to DHS figures. When including self-departures tracked by DHS and repatriations by CBP — which include removals of migrants who never lived inside the U.S. — the second Trump administration has recorded more than 570,000 repatriations, the data shows.

Chishti said he's concerned conditions inside ICE facilities could deteriorate amid the rapid growth in detention levels. 

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Chicago to rectify what he called "serious conditions" at a processing facility in Broadview, Illinois, that has been the site of protests for weeks. He directed ICE to give detainees clean sleeping mats, three meals a day, showers, hygiene products and access to phone calls.

DHS officials have repeatedly denied allegations of substandard conditions at ICE facilities.

"As we arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens and public safety threats from the U.S., ICE has worked diligently to obtain greater necessary detention space while avoiding overcrowding," said McLaughlin, the DHS spokeswoman.