Utah ICE arrests more than double in 2025 compared to previous year, most already in jail

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Federal immigration arrests in Utah more than doubled in 2025 compared with the previous year, according to data provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the Deportation Data Project.

That data shows ICE made about 1,100 arrests statewide in 2024. But between January and October 2025 alone, arrests climbed to more than 3,000.

The data offers a closer look at who is being detained and how immigration enforcement is playing out across the state.

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More than half — 55.5% — of those arrested had criminal convictions. About 27.4% had pending criminal charges but no convictions, while 17.2% had no criminal history and were detained solely for immigration violations.

Of the more than 3,000 people detained in 2025, roughly 72%, or just over 2,100 individuals, have already been deported.

In most cases, ICE detention began in local jails or state prisons, where inmates were held temporarily before being transferred to federal custody and removed from the country.

The average time between arrest and deportation in Utah was 26 days, according to the data. The shortest wait was one day for someone who had previously been deported, while the longest detention lasted 247 days, just over eight months.

Most ICE arrests in Utah do not happen in street operations. Instead, they typically involve people who are already incarcerated and turned over to federal authorities rather than being released back to the street. These are typically executed through Utah 287g agreements with ICE, called detention requests.

State data provided by the Utah Department of Corrections shows Utah, as of Jan 30, has 277 individuals in custody who indicated they were here illegally. 229 have ICE detention requests, meaning they will be transferred to ICE custody upon completion of their sentence.

According to the UDC, the daily incarceration rate is $156 and includes operational costs and medical costs. If all 277 illegal immigrant inmates currently in custody in the state served at least a one-year sentence, it would cost about $15.7 million in taxpayer dollars.

The ICE arrest data used in this report did not granularly break down what crimes arrested individuals were convicted of, and whether they were violent offences or not.

Of the 277 illegal immigrants in Utah’s jails and prisons, about 71% were convicted of 1st degree felonies, 22% were convicted of 2nd degree felonies, 6% were convicted of 3rd degree felonies, and less than 1% (2 people) were convicted of capital felonies.

According to new exclusive reporting out of CBS News, using data from the Department of Homeland Security, less than 14% of the illegal immigrants arrested by ICE nationwide had violent criminal offenses. The report states that nearly 60% of people arrested by ICE over the past year had criminal charges or convictions, but the majority of the criminal charges or convictions are not for violent crimes.

Here in Utah, among people already incarcerated in county jails, DUI offenses were the most common charge. For those in state prison, sexual abuse was the most frequent offense.

2News reached out to both the Governor and Lt. Governor for comment on the cost to imprison illegal immigrants at state and local facilities, but did not hear back. We also reached out to Sen. Dan McKay, the chair of the Senate Revenue and Taxation committee, but he was not available for an interview.

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