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ICE IS DEPORTING THOUSANDS WITH MINOR OFFENSES — FROM TRAFFIC
VIOLATIONS TO WEED POSSESSION  
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Christie Thompson and Anna Flagg
August 15, 2025
The Marshall Project
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_ Many people with little or no criminal record have been swept into
the administration’s immigration dragnet since January, an analysis
of deportation data shows. _

Hector Madrid Reyes, who was detained after being charged with
driving without a license and driving under the influence,
self-deported to Honduras in July., Courtesy of Jacqueline Maravilla

 

_This story is part of “Trump Two: Six Months In
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series taking stock of the administration’s efforts to reshape
immigration enforcement and criminal justice._

Contractor Hector Madrid Reyes was driving to Home Depot in March when
he was rear-ended. As he and the other driver exchanged information, a
Georgia State Patrol officer pulled up and asked for their licenses.
Madrid, who arrived in the U.S. from Honduras as a teenager and was
awaiting a court hearing for his asylum claim, didn’t have one.

“There’s no public transportation where we’re at, no Uber or
Lyft,” said his wife, Jacqueline Maravilla, about his choice to
drive. “Everything's 45 minutes from everything. It's a calculated
risk we have to take to support our family.”

That risk has grown even greater for thousands of immigrant families
under the Trump administration, as officials expand efforts to deport
people with little or no criminal history. The monthly number of
people deported whose most serious conviction was a traffic violation
— such as driving without a license — has more than tripled in the
last six months, hitting almost 600 in May, according to new estimates
by The Marshall Project. In total, over 1,800 people with traffic
violations have been deported this year.

People with no criminal convictions at all make up two-thirds of the
more than 120,000 people deported between January and May. For another
8%, the only offense on their record was illegal entry to the U.S.
Only about 12% were convicted of a crime that was either violent or
potentially violent. The numbers contradict officials' continued
claims that immigration enforcement is focusing on the “worst of the
worst
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criminal offenders.

The numbers are estimates from a Marshall Project analysis of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement data, provided to the Deportation
Data Project [[link removed]] in response
to a FOIA request. The group noted the dataset may be incomplete and
could undercount the true numbers of deportations.

ICE officials did not respond to a request for comment.

For many facing removal, the crimes on their records are years old. So
far this year more than 600 people have been deported whose most
serious convictions were marijuana-related offenses, and in three out
of four cases, the offense occurred at least five years ago.

“It’s not at all about convictions anymore,” said Tim
Warden-Hertz, a directing attorney of the Northwest Immigrant Rights
Project, a Washington-based legal organization. “There is no
discretion. It’s just trying to get as many people as they can, any
way that they can.”

Historical data from the Deportation Data Project shows that previous
administrations also deported people with no convictions
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only minor offenses, but the numbers have increased under Trump. From
President Biden’s inauguration through the end of fiscal year 2023,
the last day with available data, over half of the people deported had
no criminal conviction. During that period, an average of 80 people a
month were deported with only traffic offenses, compared with an
average of over 350 per month so far under Trump’s second term.

Some of Trump’s advisors have said publicly
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the administration’s goal is for 3,000 ICE arrests each day. But in
recent court filings, immigration officials have denied having a
quota.

Some attorneys worry this pressure to deport more people is leading to
an increase in racial profiling, and that more drivers of color are
being pulled over for minor traffic violations as a way to check their
legal status. Twenty states have recently passed laws
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increase local police’s involvement in immigration enforcement. And
a growing number of police departments are signing agreements
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the Department of Homeland Security to enforce federal immigration
laws during encounters like routine traffic stops.

“We hear people pulled over for minor reasons, like a broken
blinker, crossing the yellow line, or the tint is too dark on
windows,” said Paul R. Chavez, director of litigation and advocacy
for Americans for Immigrant Justice, a Miami-based nonprofit.
“People are arrested for those very minor things, brought to jail,
fingerprinted, and then handed over to ICE.”

Chavez noted that many people are being charged solely with driving
without a license, a crime police generally discover only after making
a traffic stop. “If you’re pulled over and that's the only
accusation, in my mind that's pretty clear evidence of racial
profiling,” he said.

The number of people deported with only nonviolent offenses — like
trespassing, failure to appear in court, marijuana offenses,
shoplifting and traffic violations — has almost doubled since
January.

After Madrid’s accident, he says he passed a breathalyzer test. But
he admitted he had smoked weed the night before, 18 hours prior. The
Georgia State Patrol officer arrested him on charges of driving
without a license and driving under the influence.

Madrid’s only existing conviction was for driving without a license
in 2019, he said. Back then, “He got arrested, I bailed him out, he
had a court date, he paid the fine,” Maravilla said. “And that was
the end of it.”

Things went differently this time. After Maravilla paid Madrid’s
bond, ICE officers picked him up and ultimately took him to Stewart
Detention Center
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south of Columbus, Georgia. A judge denied his release from detention,
citing the DUI charge for marijuana use the night before the accident.
But the hearing in his criminal case  wouldn’t happen until the
following summer. Madrid had to decide between spending at least a
year stuck inside a remote, overcrowded
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center — or leaving his wife and family behind.

In early July, Madrid opted to self-deport to Honduras. Maravilla, a
U.S. citizen who has never been on a plane and doesn’t have a
passport, is working to save enough money to visit him and bring him
some of his belongings. The two were married just three weeks before
his arrest.

“It’s a deep pain,” Madrid told The Marshall Project in Spanish.
“I am not there with my wife, cannot see my mother and give her a
hug, or help them with what I earn from my work. Listening to my wife
cry on the phone has been something I do not wish for anyone.”

_Christie Thompson, a staff writer, reports on prison conditions,
immigration and mental health care.  Anna Flagg is a science date
reporter who works with data to report on detention, deaths in
custody, crime, race, policing and immigration._

_Additional reporting contributed by Manuel Torres
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* mass deportation
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* Immigration and Customs Enforcement
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* Immigrants
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* Criminalization
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