The number of people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody declined by 12% from a record-high in January to the end of March, data released by the agency on Thursday shows, driven largely by a decline in detentions of those without criminal records. 

The drop follows the nationwide, bipartisan backlash to the massive immigration enforcement operation in the Minneapolis area; the killings of two American citizens at the hands of federal agents there; and a shakeup in Department of Homeland Security leadership. 

It also marks the first major decline since President Trump returned to office and began an unprecedented deportation crackdown that has made anyone in the U.S. without lawful status subject to arrest and detention. Data for the first week of April indicates the detention population's decline is continuing.

Despite the decline, the average daily detention population remains at historic high levels, above levels seen during the Biden administration and the first Trump administration. An average of about 63,000 people were detained each day in March, ICE reported, compared to about 72,000 in January.

Those detained by ICE are accused of civil immigration violations, such as crossing the border illegally or overstaying a visa. Non-criminal detainees accused of civil violations of U.S. immigration law were previously the fastest-growing group in ICE custody, compared to those with pending criminal charges or prior convictions. 

But from January to March, the average number of detainees without criminal records dropped by 21%, although they are still the largest group in detention. Over the same timeframe, the number of detainees with pending charges and convictions declined by 5% and 4%, respectively. 

Administration officials have signaled, both publicly and privately, that their immigration enforcement strategy has shifted to some degree following Operation Metro Surge, the operation in Minnesota. 

In February, Mr. Trump told NBC News that the administration could "use a little bit of a softer touch" in enforcement operations after ICE and Border Patrol killed U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti during the Twin Cities operation. 

Following the deaths, the president removed Gregory Bovino from his post as Commander at Large of sweeping and controversial Border Patrol operations in major cities far away from the U.S.-Mexico border. He has since retired from federal service. Last month, Mr. Trump replaced former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem with then-Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma.

Administration officials previously told CBS News that some of the aggressive tactics used by ICE and Border Patrol agents had become politically problematic. Mr. Trump tapped White House border czar Tom Homan — instead of Noem — with winding down Operation Metro Surge, and officials told CBS News that under his direction, the administration had moved away from broad immigration sweeps in major cities and renewed focus on arresting immigrants with criminal records.

At his confirmation hearing in March, Mullin signaled he plans to move in a similar direction. 

"Working with municipalities, I would love to see ICE become a transport more than the front line," he said. "If we get back into simply working with law enforcement, we're going to them, we're picking up criminals from their jail."

Mullin also said that ICE would be using judicial warrants before entering homes or businesses, unless they are actively pursuing someone who enters those places. Earlier this year, a whistleblower revealed ICE had empowered agents to forcibly enter homes, without judicial warrants, in operations targeting individuals with deportation orders, a marked departure from longstanding policy and practice.

ICE acting director Todd Lyons also suggested arrests would be carried out differently under Mullin in an interview with the Boston Globe last month.

"Not like Minneapolis," he said of enforcement operations under new leadership. "Not like before."

Still, it may be too early to tell whether there has been a permanent shift in strategy, said Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, an associate analyst at the Migration Policy Institute.

"It may be part of just a transitory time, following Minneapolis and following the public outcry of ICE tactics," she told CBS News. "There has been a shift in rhetoric, but we do know that these arrests continue, they're just not necessarily happening in sort of the high-profile, very flashy public ways like in Minneapolis."

Nationwide, ICE arrested an average of about 1,040 people each day between mid-February, when the Minnesota operation ended, to early March, according to ICE data released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request lawsuit by the Deportation Data Project. About 40% did not have criminal records. 

When asked whether the decline in the detention population represents a systematic change, a DHS spokesperson told CBS News on Sunday that "since Day One, DHS law enforcement has been delivering on President Trump's promise to the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists." 

ICE data indicate the agency has been recording fewer "collateral" arrests in recent months. "Collateral" arrests refer to arrests of those who aren't the original targets of an operation but found to be living in the U.S. illegally in the process of an enforcement operation. 

More than a quarter of arrests at the start of the year were labeled "collateral," compared to fewer than one-fifth by early March, the data show. ICE began recording this distinction consistently in August 2025.

The vast majority of arrests since then were marked as targeted, although it is not always clear how ICE determines who to target. Roughly one-third of those arrested in targeted operations lacked criminal records, the data show. ICE has previously argued that some immigrants without U.S. criminal records may have committed crimes in their native countries or may otherwise be public safety threats, like gang members.

"It remains to be seen what the new strategy is exactly," Putzel-Kavanaugh said. "The real test will be what the next couple of months look like as Secretary Mullin settles in, as DHS sort of regroups and decides what that strategy is."