All through 2025 and into the first weeks of this year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported that the number of immigrants it detained rose and rose. Then, the lights went out.
ICE has delayed publication of key data that allowed the public to track many aspects of immigration detention since the partial government shutdown started over six weeks ago, defying a congressional mandate to release this data twice a month.
The last time the agency updated the numbers was Feb. 12, just days before the partial shutdown began over the funding of its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security. This puts it among the three longest delays between releases.
More: Track the latest immigration data with USA TODAY's immigration tracker
After previous negotiations fell through, Congressional Republicans on April 1 announced a plan to end the partial shutdown by funding all of DHS, except for ICE and Border Patrol, but the deal had not been finalized as of April 2.
