Short answer: In 2025, the vast majority of people detained by ICE or the DOJ are bona fide asylum seekers with colorable claims. Over 70% of detainees have no criminal record (TRAC Quick Facts, 2025), and most are charged only with “irregular” immigration violations like presence without status or entry without inspection—grounds historically tied to low-income asylum seekers. Even when individuals do not ultimately win asylum, interim protection prevents deportation and gives them critical time to pursue other lawful avenues such as family petitions, humanitarian visas, or Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.

Long answer: This is an important and fair question. What we see in Vermont—and what national data confirm—is that the vast majority of people detained by ICE or the Department of Justice are bona fide asylum seekers with colorable, nonfrivolous claims. Legal representatives estimate the percentage closely tracks the share of people currently in ICE custody with no criminal record: over 70% of detainees as of August 2025 (TRAC Quick Facts). Most of this group are detained on removability charges for civil “irregular” immigration violations like presence without status or irregular entry—charges historically tied to lower-income asylum seekers.

Asylum seekers facing INA §§ 212(a)(6) and (7) removability charges almost always entered “irregularly” because of race and class barriers, and the method of entry has no prejudicial effect on asylum eligibility. Only a relatively small group—those with more resources and privilege in their home countries—can obtain passports and unrelated visas (tourist, student, temporary worker) to enter the U.S. by plane. Once here, they may pursue asylum “affirmatively” through USCIS, avoiding removability charges and the adversarial process where ICE counsel cross-examines the veracity of their traumatic stories. By contrast, the vast majority must undertake dangerous land or sea journeys. Some travel first to countries like Brazil or Nicaragua and then continue north on foot. Others cross multiple borders overland or attempt risky boat routes. These asylum seekers often lack literacy, formal education, and familiarity with government systems—or today’s increasingly digital immigration process. They typically apply for asylum “defensively,” in removal proceedings triggered by their civil immigration violations.

It was once extremely rare for asylum seekers charged only with “irregular immigration” violations to remain detained. Congress delegated detention authority to ICE and CBP to protect community safety, national security, and compliance with proceedings. Historically, only individuals with serious criminal convictions or extraordinary terrorism-related concerns were subject to mandatory detention. Today, however, ICE opportunistically detains anyone chargeable with any ground of removability, whether encountered in the 100-mile border zones (which encompass most of Vermont) or targeted outside immigration courts where asylum seekers attend previously scheduled hearings.

Even for the 30% of detainees charged with a criminal conviction-related ground of removability—sometimes for conduct as ordinary as working in cannabis fields, which constitutes a federal controlled substance violation, or pleading out to misdemeanor charges that would not even carry jail time—very few criminal charges strip a person of the right to seek protection from persecution. Some may limit eligibility for asylum (a pathway to permanent residency and citizenship), but individuals remain eligible for withholding of removal, which prevents deportation to danger and provides work authorization.

The takeaway is that the overwhelming majority of ICE detainees, whether facing “irregular entry,” criminal, or other removability charges, are bona fide asylum seekers with unqualified rights to be heard on their fear of return. Even if someone does not ultimately prevail in their asylum case, interim protection from deportation is life-saving: it creates the time and stability needed to pursue other lawful avenues—such as Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, family-based petitions, or humanitarian visas—that can lead to permanent status or at minimum protect against removal while pending.

That is what the law requires. But fewer and fewer asylum seekers are able to access and exercise those fair hearing rights. By law, any person in the U.S. who fears returning home has a right to be heard on that fear (INA §§ 208, 235, and 240). In practice, ICE and CBP control the initial pivot into that process—and increasingly use detention and coercion to block access. Just last week at NWSCF, for example, we met a detainee whose medication ICE officers withheld in an effort to force him to sign away his asylum rights and accept self-deportation. We have heard similar accounts across the 40–50 individuals our staff and volunteers consulted with this summer at NWSCF and CRCF. Many were detained despite clearly qualifying—or even already being approved—for humanitarian protection, including asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, or crime- and trafficking-related visas. The problem is not that detainees lack viable claims, but that ICE and CBP obstruct access to the rights Congress has guaranteed.

Most detained migrants we meet are not only eligible for asylum hearings—they often have strong underlying claims. What is new is the way ICE and CBP are using detention, coercion, and criminal charges to prevent people from ever asserting those rights, even though interim protection is itself critical to safeguarding life, family unity, and long-term pathways to lawful status.