BOULDER, Colo. — New research by University of Colorado Boulder economists finds daily ICE arrests have reached a record high, while the number of people being arrested with a criminal record reached a near-historic low.
The study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, examined the scale of ICE activity between 2015 and 2025. It found a 170% increase in daily ICE arrests since President Donald Trump took office for a second time.
“We've heard promises from the Trump administration that they will be going after the 'worst of the worst' and we're using ICE's own data to show that, in fact, the majority of people that ICE arrests in 2025 have no criminal conviction at arrest,” said Associate Professor of Economics at CU Boulder, Chloe East, one of the study's authors.
East, who co-authored the study, says the latest data from October 2025 shows only about 30% of the people ICE arrested had a criminal conviction.
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The study also uncovered that the predominant method ICE used to make arrests changed in the last 10 years.
Previously, ICE relied on arrests through law enforcement agreements, in which someone is transferred from local law enforcement custody to federal ICE custody. Instead, last year, ICE ramped up community arrests that happen at people’s workplaces, schools, residences, churches, and out on the street.
“This is a newer phenomenon,” East said. “That's actually a large reason, although not the only reason, why we're seeing the percentage of people with a criminal conviction falling so much, because ICE is really becoming more and more reliant on these indiscriminate arrest methods.”
During the enforcement surge after President Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, only 22% of arrests were “community arrests.” In contrast, in the first 10 months of Trump’s second term in 2025, nearly half of ICE arrests were made in the community.
According to the study, Colorado ranked among the top six areas nationwide that saw an increase in ICE arrests in 2025.
Colorado saw a 200% increase in the number of daily ICE arrests in the first year of President Trump's second term compared to the last year of the Biden administration.
In October 2025, only 40% of the people arrested by ICE in Colorado had a criminal conviction.
East told Denver7 80% of ICE arrests in Colorado right now are happening in the community.
“What I think this study shows really clearly is that the political rhetoric coming from the Trump administration, about who ICE is targeting, is really not borne out in their own data,” East said.
