For the first time all year, arrests of immigrants without criminal convictions surpassed arrests of those with one
by Kelly Waldron December 2, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)
For the first time this year, almost half of the people being arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Northern California have no criminal record, recent data shows.
That data also reveals that ICE arrests across Northern California have more than tripled this year.
A Mission Local analysis of data released from the Deportation Data Project, a group of researchers based at the University of California, Berkeley, shows that 48 percent of the people arrested by ICE across Northern California in September had no criminal background, while 39 percent had a criminal conviction. The remaining 14 percent had pending criminal charges.
Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter below.Sign up
That is a large spike from earlier months, when immigrants with either a criminal conviction or charges made up the majority of arrests in Northern California. September was the most recent full month for which data was available.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump pledged to deport the “worst of the worst,” but the latest numbers confirm that the administration’s crackdown continues to target an increasing share of people who have committed no crimes. Most recently, the president called for a permanent pause on all immigration from “third-world countries.”
Across the country, about 74 percent of the people in ICE detention centers have no criminal history, according to the Transaction Records Access Clearinghouse from Syracuse University.
In October, Mission Local documented a decline in the number of arrests taking place at San Francisco’s immigration courthouse, where immigrants with pending asylum cases are required to show up for routine hearings.
But overall, the total number of ICE arrests in Northern California, has more than tripled between Jan. 20 and Oct. 15, 2025, compared to the same period last year. Analysis by the San Francisco Chronicle published in September also found that deportations in California were up 78 percent compared to 2024. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ytdtE/1/
Those numbers are likely an undercount. For the “San Francisco Area of Responsibility,” which covers Northern California, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan, about 11 percent of the data published by ICE for 2025 did not specify the state where the arrest occurred and thus was excluded from the data we analyzed for arrests in Northern California. The data does not include arrests made by other agencies, such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The latest data shows that a growing number of people are being detained at the short-term detention facility at 630 Sansome St. In September, 246 new detention stays were recorded at the “San Francisco Hold Room,” up 67 percent compared to the previous month. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ywORE/1/
Generally, immigrants are only held there for a few hours before being moved to a longer-term facility, although Mission Local previously found that at least 38 people were detained there longer than the recommended 12 hours.
Keep Mission Local free by making a tax-deductible donation today!
We have a big year-end goal: $300,000 by Dec. 31.
It’s more important than ever that everyone has access to news that reports, explains and keeps them informed. Paywalls don’t serve anyone.
Your support makes it possible for Mission Local’s content to be forever free — for everyone.
about:blank
Latest News
Bayview Buzz: What’s happening on 3rd Street?
Illegally selling an item off this list? S.F. police can now take action.
Board of Supervisors passes plan to upzone San Francisco
Kelly Waldron
Find me looking at data. I studied Geography at McGill University and worked at a remote sensing company in Montreal, analyzing methane data, before turning to journalism and earning a master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School.More by Kelly Waldron
