More than half of the people in ICE custody in Wisconsin have no criminal convictions, according to the latest detention statistics released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on July 20.
A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis of the data found an increase in the number of people ICE is holding in custody in Wisconsin and greater use of local jails to house them.
The detention statistics come after months of silence from ICE, which is required by Congress to publish the data every two weeks.
Nationwide, ICE said it has removed 350,000 individuals so far in fiscal year 2026.
The numbers come amid reports that the Trump administration set a goal of 2,000 immigration arrests per day. In the last week of June alone, ICE agents arrested 10,000 people across the U.S., including 39 people in Wisconsin.
In June, ICE and U.S. Border Patrol received nearly $70 billion in additional funding to assist in the crackdown effort.
Number of ICE detainees held in Wisconsin is rising
Since last year, ICE has reported a 25% increase in the number of people in custody in Wisconsin, the data shows.
ICE tracks the average daily population of detainees by year. So far in fiscal year 2026, ICE reported 147 people in detention in Wisconsin on an average day, compared to roughly 115 people in detention on a typical day from 2023 to 2025.
At its lowest, in 2022, ICE was holding around 40 immigrant detainees in custody in Wisconsin on a typical day, the data shows. Detentions picked up in 2023, with ICE reaching a daily population of around 110 people in custody in Wisconsin.
The vast majority of people are held at Dodge County Jail, which has the longest active agreement to house ICE detainees. It has had an average daily population of over 100 ICE detainees for the past four years.
Most people in ICE custody in Wisconsin have no criminal convictions
According to the data, so far in 2026, around 54% of the people in ICE custody in Wisconsin have no criminal convictions.
The contrast was starker in 2025, when around 75% of the detainees in Wisconsin had no criminal convictions.
On average, ICE is holding around 80 people without criminal convictions in custody each day in one of four facilities in Wisconsin, the data shows.
According to the data, the share of people without criminal convictions under Trump is similar to the last two years of the Biden administration. During those two years – 2022 and 2023 – around 60% of the people in custody in Wisconsin had no criminal convictions.
The detention data differs slightly from arrest data previously released by ICE. A Journal Sentinel analysis of state-by-state arrest data in April found that the Trump administration arrested a much higher proportion of people with pending charges or no criminal records compared to the Biden administration.
Many of those arrested in Wisconsin under Trump were moved out of state and detained elsewhere, the arrest data shows.
An expanded ICE detention network in Wisconsin
From 2020 to 2024, Dodge County Jail was the only facility in Wisconsin that housed immigrants detained by ICE.
Since 2025, the Trump administration has expanded its immigration detention network to other Wisconsin jails, including those in Sauk County, Douglas County and Waukesha County.
The Douglas County Jail in Superior now holds 24 ICE detainees on an average day, according to the data – the second-highest in the state. In contrast, it housed only three ICE detainees on an average day in fiscal year 2025.
Douglas County is across the border from Duluth, Minnesota and is about 2 1/2 hours from Minneapolis, where thousands of ICE agents were sent as part of an immigration crackdown early this year.
All local jails in Wisconsin that house ICE detainees are under an “intergovernmental agreement.” Sheriffs enter into the agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service to house federal detainees or prisoners at their jails for a fee.
ICE, in turn, sends detainees to those jails through that agreement, without requiring these counties to enter into direct contracts with ICE.
Eva Wen is an investigative data reporter with expertise in immigration and behavioral health. Reach her at qwen@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: ICE is detaining more people in Wisconsin jails, most with no convictions
Reporting by Eva Wen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Eva Wen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
