Mississippi and Texas detention facilities are holding the most illegal immigrants of the tens of thousands who have been arrested across the country, newly released federal data shows.
So far in fiscal year 2025, the Adams County Detention Center in Natchez, Mississippi, has held the largest number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees, averaging 2,154 per day, according to data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
In Texas, the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall came in second with an average of 1,680 detainees per day followed by the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, which averaged 1,531 per day.
The government's fiscal year runs from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025.
Data current as of Feb. 8 shows that ICE relied on Texas detention facilities to house the most people awaiting deportation thus far in fiscal year 2025. Eight of the state's detention centers were among the nation's top 20 facilities that were each holding at least 800 ICE detainees.
ICE is currently holding 41,169 illegal immigrants across a number of locations, nearly 55% of which have no criminal record. Many more have committed only minor offenses, such as traffic violations, according to the TRAC's analysis.
At a time when immigration detention centers are nearing capacity and the Trump administration is calling for an increase in arrests, the data provides a clearer picture of detainee housing arrangements.
According to data current as of Jan. 11, ICE's Alternatives to Detention programs are also monitoring 188,304 families and individuals. These nonviolent detainees are typically outfitted with wristband or ankle monitors or told to check in by phone with immigration officials until their court dates arrive.
There was no mention of the number of detainees being held at the U.S. naval facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in the ICE detention statistics update.
Detaining illegal immigrants is the costliest part of the deportation process and a backlog of 3.7 million immigration cases means that detainees can wait for months or even years for their hearing.
Those who are facing criminal charges cannot simply be deported but rather must make their way through the criminal justice system and serve sentences, if found guilty, before being ejected from the country.
The current capacity of the immigration detention system is approximately 42,000 people. Temporary facilities would therefore need to be constructed if a surge in immigration raids leads to a spike in arrests.