In the first full month after Trump assumed office, 22,116 noncitizens were referred to Immigration Court by DHS officers during February. Referrals occur when DHS needs an order by an Immigration Judge before these noncitizens can be legally deported. In July 2025, the Court recorded a total of 33,769 new cases that had arrived—or around 50 percent more.

Because a substantial proportion of "new" cases arise from ICE arrests in the interior of the country, these noncitizens may have been living in the U.S. for years and need not be "new" arrivals. Available Court data indicate 66 percent of arrested individuals had been living in the U.S. for 2 years or more, 30 percent had been residing in the U.S. for 5 years or more, and 14 percent had actually resided in the U.S. for 10 years or more.

Little is known about the factors driving whether individuals are detained or released following their arrest. This report examines the relationship between the custody decision and (a) what state the individual was arrested in, (b) how long the person had resided in the United States, and (c) their nationality.

Results are based upon case-by-case Immigration Court records analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). This information was obtained by TRAC through Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests.

Overall, 30 percent of the individuals in these new cases were being held in detention by ICE. The remaining 70 percent had been released or never detained. Texas had the largest number (5,464) of noncitizens with new Court cases that arrived in July, followed by New Jersey with 4,227 cases. However, New Jersey jumps to first place for individuals who were not detained. This is because those held in custody reflect the location of the detention facility. Texas’s ranking was boosted by the large number of individuals held at detention facilities within Texas.

The recorded length of stay in this country did not show any clear pattern to whether the individual was held in custody. It was the case that individuals who had been in the U.S. for up to one year showed an elevated custody rate (40 percent versus the overall rate of 30 percent). However, those held for between one and two years had a much-reduced custody rate of only 11 percent.

The highest custody rates of over 50 percent did occur for those residing longest in the U.S. These custody rates were for individuals who had already been in the U.S. for at least 15 years.

Custody rates for different nationalities varied a great deal. While average custody rates were 30 percent, the top 20 countries with new Court cases had custody rates that ranged from 3 percent for Nigerians to 57 percent for Mexicans.

After Mexico, Guatemala had the next highest custody rate. At the other extreme, Nigeria had the lowest custody rate of just 3 percent followed by the Philippines with 5 percent.