A record, kept in English and Spanish
No one should sit in a cell without a hearing. In 2026, tens of thousands do.
ICE held 70,766 people on one day in January 2026, more than at any time since the count began, and three in four had no criminal conviction. Since January 2025 immigration agents have detained more than 500 U.S. citizens; about a dozen were deported. In Utah, 95 percent of the people ICE arrests are moved out of state, and whether a person gets a bond hearing depends on which federal circuit the van stops in. None of it runs without local help: a county jail that holds on a detainer, a police department that signs an agreement, a bailiff who puts on the cuffs. This site keeps the record so no one can say they did not know.
70,766people in ICE detention on Jan. 24, 2026, the most since TRAC began counting in 2019; 74.2% had no criminal convictionStateline, Feb. 5, 2026; TRAC
506U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents from Jan. 2025 through Sept. 2026, by ProPublica's count, 'almost certainly an undercount'ProPublica, Oct. 6, 2026
36citizens held at least a day without reaching a lawyer or family; about a dozen citizens deported, mostly childrenProPublica, Oct. 6, 2026
23deaths in ICE custody from October 2025 to early March 2026, more than in all of the prior fiscal yearNPR, March 2026
226people in the Salt Lake County jail with an ICE detainer or hold on Oct. 11, 2026, 10.0% of 2,251 heldSheriff's ICE dashboard
95%of the 7,400+ people ICE arrested in Utah since Jan. 2025 were moved out of state, through 4.6 facilities on averageSalt Lake Tribune, Sept. 28, 2026
27%of ICE arrests in Utah this fiscal year had no criminal charge or conviction; 54% of at-large arrestsKUER, Sept. 4, 2026
3,467ICE arrests in Utah, Jan. to July 2026, up from 2,116 in the same months of 2025KUER, Sept. 4, 2026
What this is. A sourced reference, kept by a Salt Lake City criminal defense lawyer, for anyone writing, speaking, or voting on immigration detention and local cooperation with ICE. Nothing here is secret. It is collected in one place, in two languages, with a link under every number.
Start here
- Citizens too: who is being detained, including U.S. citizens, and how it happens.
- The numbers: national detention, the Salt Lake County jail dashboard, arrests, transfers, and what a bed costs.
- The agreements: every Utah 287(g) and ICE cooperation decision since 2008, who made it, and who declined.
- The law: detainers, the 10th Circuit, habeas, and the Supreme Court case this term.
- The articles: every story and public document the record draws on, newest first.
- 1942: what Utah did when Japanese Americans were sent to Topaz, and who spoke out.