Record high: ICE detains more than 73,000 migrants in January 2026
The current number of detainees represents an 84% increase compared to the same period in 2025, before Donald Trump assumed the presidency and began his anti-immigrant crusade.
The Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies and violent ICE raids have sparked growing backlash and a wave of protests in the United States. Photo: EFE.
January 16, 2026 Hour: 10:28 pm
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U.S. immigration authorities are holding approximately 73,000 people, the highest number ever recorded in the country, according to data provided Friday to CBS News.
This number represents an 84% increase compared to the same period in 2025, before President Donald Trump took office with an agenda focused on the mass detention and deportation of migrants.
Less than half of those detained—specifically 47%—have criminal records in the United States, according to the data released. Nevertheless, the Republican administration has reiterated its intention to expand daily detention capacity to an average of 100,000 people by opening or expanding detention centers.
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This increase comes amid unprecedented funding for border security and immigration agencies. In 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) received, through the “Big Beautiful Single Bill Act” (OBBBA), a supplemental budget package of approximately $178 billion, the largest in the institution’s history.
This is in addition to a multi-year budget of nearly $191 billion, approved under the “Big Beautiful Single Bill” designation, primarily intended to strengthen immigration enforcement infrastructure, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol (CBP).
However, conditions within detention centers have generated growing concern among international human rights organizations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Amnesty International have denounced “inhumane” treatment, physical and psychological abuse, as well as extreme overcrowding in the facilities.
The year 2025 was ranked as the deadliest in at least two decades for people in ICE custody, with more than 30 deaths reported. The trend continued in 2026: at least four migrants have died in the first 10 days of the year, all in facilities used by ICE, including one at Fort Bliss military base in Texas.
These figures reflect an unprecedented escalation in U.S. immigration policy, marked by a drastic expansion of detention capacity backed by record financial resources, while allegations of human rights violations and an alarming increase in mortality within detention centers persist.
Author: HGV
Source: Agencias
