The detention of Latino immigrants without a criminal record has increased sixfold in the United States since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second presidency, while that of Venezuelans has multiplied by fourteen and that of Mexicans by eight, revealed a report from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
The report, available online this Friday, documented a monthly average of 6,000 Latino immigrants without criminal records who entered detention centers from February to September 2025, compared to nearly 900 per month in the same period of 2024, during the Joe Biden Administration (2021-2025).
With this, the proportion of detained migrants without a criminal history increased, which now represent more than one in three of the total, compared to less than one eighth in 2024, the investigation detailed, based on official data obtained by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA, in English).
The study found that, under Trump’s administration, five nationalities account for three-quarters of all Latinos apprehended without a criminal record: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela and Ecuador.
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The researchers highlighted that the detention of Mexicans increased almost eight times, going from 1,500 to 13,300, representing more than a quarter of those detained, while that of Venezuelans multiplied by 14 to 5,600.
They also documented 8,600 Guatemalans arrested, almost eight times more than the previous period, and 6,000 Hondurans, a figure that rose almost 10 times, while the number of Ecuadorians increased to 2,800, more than double.
The Trump Administration deported nearly nine in 10 Latinos detained without criminal records and “only released a small fraction back to their communities.”
“They are not the worst of the worst”
“We focused on this group because, unequivocally, they are not ‘the worst of the worst,’ but rather law-abiding and contributing members of society,” wrote authors Paul Ong, Jonathan Ong, and Sonja Díaz.
The investigation also found that the majority of non-criminal Latinos who are detained are between 18 and 54 years old, that is, of working age.
Additionally, nearly seven in 10 were detained for 15 days or more, and 60% of them were transferred out of the state in which they lived.
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The document recalled that the Trump Administration’s goal is to have a daily average of 100,000 immigrants in detention centers, almost double the record of 50,200 people from previous governments.
“The results indicate a problematic trajectory for the remainder of the current Trump Administration. Arrests, along with apprehensions and deportations, will likely increase, with much of the growth coming from non-criminals,” the researchers concluded.
With information from EFE
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