As of the morning of February 4, space inside ICE detention facilities was at 109% capacity, with the agency holding nearly 42,000 immigrants. According to data from the US Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s network of private prisons and county jails has a capacity of 38,521 beds.
Figures show that on February 3, ICE released about 160 immigrants from detention. CBS News said that this is a sign that the Trump administration is forcing the release of detained immigrants. Those released by ICE may be required to wear electronic monitoring devices. In a statement to CBS News, ICE acknowledged that the agency's increased operations have led to "a large number of arrests of criminal aliens requiring greater detention capacity." ICE is considering all options, including working with the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as well as state and local law enforcement partners, asking the US Congress to increase funding and carefully reviewing case files to quickly deport criminal aliens with deportation orders.
Earlier this week, NBC News reported that ICE has released several immigrants recently arrested under the Trump administration.
Since Trump took office, ICE has stepped up its arrests across the country, with some days recording as many as 1,000 arrests, up from an average of 312 per day during President Joe Biden’s final year in office. The Trump administration has also rolled back some restrictions on ICE that were put in place under Biden, giving the agency the authority to prosecute most immigrants in the country illegally, including those without criminal records.
People who are detained by ICE are often held for days, weeks, and in some cases, months before the agency completes all the paperwork and legal processes necessary to deport them. Sometimes, immigrants cannot be deported because their country of origin is not accepting them, and the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on how long they can be held in these cases.
With limited detention space, ICE is planning to dramatically expand its detention capacity to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history that President Trump has promised. ICE is aiming for 14 new detention sites that can hold up to 1,000 people, along with four larger facilities with 10,000 beds each. ICE is also tapping other agencies to increase its detention capacity. The Department of Defense has authorized ICE to detain migrants at an Air Force base in Colorado, and the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base received its first group of migrants on Feb. 4.
The Trump administration is also considering moving ICE detainees into large tent camps set up by the Border Patrol along the southern border to temporarily house and process them, two sources told CBS News.
Unlike ICE, CBP’s detention space is well below capacity. According to data from the US Department of Homeland Security, as of the morning of February 4, CBP was holding fewer than 2,000 immigrants.
