How we count

Sources

• ICE's individual detention records (names and ID numbers removed), obtained through FOIA litigation (Hausman v. ICE) and published by the Deportation Data Project (UC Berkeley / UCLA). Data through Aug 5, 2026. New releases depend on litigation, so they arrive irregularly.
• ICE's detention statistics spreadsheet (ice.gov), data pulled Jul 9, 2026, posted Jul 20, 2026. ICE used to update it about every two weeks; in 2026 updates slowed to a few a year.
• ICE's facility pages for phone numbers, visiting and mail rules, re-checked regularly; each page shows when we last checked.
• ICE detainee death reports and news releases.
• EOIR (immigration courts) records, to link facilities with courts.

Definitions

• Held per day: the average number of people in custody each day. For each month, we add up every day each person spent at the facility and divide by the days in the month. ICE's own "average daily population" is a year-to-date figure; both are shown where available. For the same months, our figure is about 96% of ICE's at the typical facility.
• Stay: on facility pages, the time spent at that one facility. People are often transferred, so a person's whole time in custody is usually longer.
• No criminal conviction: ICE's categories "pending criminal charges" and "other immigration violator" at book-in. We also show the share with neither a conviction nor a pending charge.
• Nationwide count: people in custody at the end of each day. Vera Institute also publishes a 24-hour count (anyone held at any point in a day), which is higher. TRAC's count for Jul 11, 2026 was 65,765; ours is 64,949.
• Which facilities: every facility on ICE's published list, plus any other place averaging 25 or more people a day over the last 12 months. ICE's list leaves out hold rooms, hospitals and sites that were empty on the day ICE pulled its data.

Privacy

We publish only totals and averages, never a single person's record. Any share, average or breakdown based on fewer than 10 people is hidden. We never search the ICE locator or ask for anyone's details. Deaths are listed with the names ICE itself published, never in headlines or alerts.

Corrections

If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we'll fix it and note the date. A contact address will be added before launch.

Not affiliated with ICE, DHS or the Department of Justice. This is not legal advice.