ICE arrests and detentions rise steeply in Idaho
Immigration arrests and detentions in Idaho sharply increased in 2025, following trends across the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in Idaho increased 797% in 2025 from the same time period in 2024, according to an Idaho Capital Sun review of ICE data collected by the Deportation Data Project. The project is led by attorneys and professors from multiple states who obtain public data sets through Freedom of Information Act requests.
From Jan. 1, 2024, to June 26, 2024, there were 41 reported arrests by ICE agents in Idaho, the data shows. For that time period in 2025, there were 368 arrests.
Idaho in 2024 and part of 2025 had certified the Elmore County and Jefferson County jails as federal immigration detention centers. From Jan. 1, 2024, to June 26, 2024, there were 65 reported ICE detentions in both of those facilities. For that period in 2025, there were 416 detentions, which is a 540% increase.
The number of detentions in the first six months of 2025 was more than double the number of detentions recorded for all of 2024.
“We’ve seen an increased number of calls, typically from loved ones whose loved one has been detained,” said Chris Christensen, a Boise immigration attorney. “We have seen a lot more immigration holds … and we’ve also seen a lot more aggressive tactics used by local ICE.”
Christensen, who has worked in various areas of immigration law since 2009, said he was aware of three recent incidents where ICE agents broke the window of a vehicle to remove someone inside.
The ages of those detained in Idaho ranged from 18 to 64 years old.
The youngest people arrested in Idaho were a 6-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, both from Peru. The two children were arrested at the same time as a 33-year-old woman Jan. 28 in the Twin Falls area. There is no record showing the woman and children were detained.
Christensen said in a February meeting with ICE agents in Idaho, local immigration lawyers were told that the agency tries to avoid detaining minors because there is nowhere to hold them in Idaho. Many of those arrested in southern Idaho end up going to a detention facility in Las Vegas, Christensen said.
The share of those arrested who had criminal convictions declined in 2025 from the year prior.
Of the arrests made this year, 250, or nearly 68%, of all arrests, were of people with criminal convictions. There were 84 arrests of those with “pending charges,” and 34 people with “other immigration violations,” according to the data.
In 2024, 34 of the 41 arrests were of those with a criminal conviction, or 82%, and five were of those with pending charges.
ICE arrests are up across the U.S., many without prior criminal convictions
Nationwide, the share of immigrants with criminal convictions has declined overall since January, Stateline reported. From January to late-June, ICE has made nearly 112,000 arrests, and 40% of them were of convicted criminals, the outlet reported. For the same time period in 2024, 53% of the approximately 51,000 arrests were of those with criminal convictions.
Arrests in Washington state rose 35% in the first five months of Donald Trump’s presidency, the Washington State Standard reported, with 782 arrests in 2025 compared to 581 the same period last year.
Trump administration officials have stated a goal of 3,000 immigration arrests per day; the current average is 711 as of June, the Stateline analysis of data found.