US immigration detention reached a record 61,000 people in ICE custody in late August 2025, up from 39,000 when President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January — and a $45 billion funding boost enacted in July could push the number as high as 107,000 by January 2026.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July, allocates $45 billion for immigration detention over the next three years, at least roughly $14 billion per year. That triples ICE's detention budget of $3.9 billion for fiscal year 2025. The annual detention budget now runs 62 percent larger than the entire federal prison system's $8.6 billion in FY 2025.

No prior administration has held an average of more than 50,200 people per day in immigration detention — the FY 2019 record during Trump's first term. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said ICE should aim for 100,000 detainees daily.

Who is being detained?

Despite rhetoric that detainees are "criminal illegal aliens," 71 percent of ICE detainees as of September 2025 had no criminal conviction. Another 25 percent had only a pending criminal charge, and most of those involved minor offenses such as traffic violations.

A July 2025 ICE policy memorandum vastly expanded mandatory detention, deeming millions of unauthorized noncitizens subject to it, including many long-term residents. A Board of Immigration Appeals decision affirmed the position in September, but federal judges have rejected it in dozens of cases. The US Supreme Court will likely decide the question eventually.

As of September, detainees spent an average of 44 days in custody, at a cost of $152 per person per day. The longest average, 111 days, was recorded at the Golden State Annex in McFarland, California.

What changed for families?

The administration has resumed family detention, a practice the Biden administration ended in 2021. Family staging centers held an average of 358 people per day in FY 2025.

The new spending law includes a provision permitting indefinite detention of families awaiting removal decisions. Experts call this an attempt to supersede the 1997 Flores Settlement, which caps child detention at 20 days. In August, a federal judge denied the Justice Department's request to hold families longer.

Where are detainees held?

The largest daily populations as of mid-September were in Texas (13,400), Louisiana (7,500), California (3,800), Georgia (3,000) and Arizona (2,700). The administration plans to add 41,000 beds, using:

• State-run prisons in remote areas, including Florida's Alligator Alcatraz and Deportation Depot, Nebraska's Cornhusker Clink, and the Louisiana Lockup at Angola Prison
• The Lone Star Lockup at Fort Bliss, which DHS calls the largest immigrant detention center in US history
• Military bases, including Guantanamo Bay, with the administration asserting in court it can hold detainees at any US military facility worldwide
• Facilities in foreign countries such as El Salvador and Eswatini

Close to 86 percent of immigrant detainees were held in privately run facilities as of early 2025, compared with under 10 percent of the general incarcerated population. GEO Group (valued around $4 billion) and CoreCivic (around $2.2 billion) have both bid to build more facilities under the new funding.

From January through July 2025, more than 40,000 people transited the ICE facility on the airport tarmac in Alexandria, Louisiana, described as the busiest US deportation hub.

What are the reported conditions?

Reports describe spoiled food, non-potable water, severe overcrowding, and 24-hour lighting. At least 23 people died in ICE detention in FY 2025, according to an American Immigration Council tally, versus 24 deaths over the prior four years combined. DHS calls allegations of poor conditions "categorically false" and says detention standards are being met.

Several congressional Democrats have sued after being denied entry to detention facilities for oversight. Detainees receive pay as low as $1 per day for facility jobs, and commissary goods sell well above market prices.

As of early October, DHS data obtained by ProPublica showed about 25,000 noncitizens had reported self-deportation through the CBP Home app, which offers a $1,000 payment and a free flight home.

For authoritative details, readers should consult ICE and DHS official releases and the legislation itself.