Asylum seekers with no criminal records are being detained across the country as the Trump administration seeks to remove immigrants seeking legal avenues to remain in the United States. The move is a sharp departure from previous practice, in which asylum seekers were allowed to work and build lives in American communities as their cases unfolded.
Lawyers and advocates told NBC News there is a pattern to the arrests. One day, the asylum seekers are with their families. Often after living in the United States for many years. Then, after a ride to errands or work, they end up in ICE’s vast detention system. There, they face difficult conditions and more hostile immigration procedures, along with pressure to self-deport, lawyers and families say. Their arrests have been reported across the country, including Minnesota, New York, Virginia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Maine, Alaska, Wisconsin, California, and Texas.
When federal immigration enforcement operations swept through Maine near the end of January, six of attorney Robin Nice’s asylum seekers were detained by ICE despite no criminal charges, she said. Some were finishing their shifts at work. One person was driving to work. One person was planning to buy medicine and groceries. One was picked up on the way to get a U.S. passport for the newborn.
“This is completely unprecedented,” Nice said, adding that until about six months ago, she confidently told clients that if they had a pending asylum case, they didn’t have to worry about being detained. “We talked about it like a lightning bolt.”
People from all over the world come to the United States to apply for asylum, some fleeing war, violence, and religious or political persecution. More than 2.3 million immigrants were awaiting asylum hearings as of December, and that number has increased in recent years. The number of people obtaining asylum fluctuates from year to year. From October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025, more than 28,000 of the more than 118,000 applicants were granted asylum, and nearly 5,000 received some form of immigration relief. The government says the case backlog includes many “meritless applications.”
Lawyers and advocates say the new practice of detaining asylum seekers is harmful and unnecessary because the applicants are already known to the government and have gone through a legal process that involves all government check-ins. They claim the government is holding law-abiding immigrants in detention centers in inhumane conditions, where they lack adequate medical care, access to legal counsel, and are fed inedible food.
“This destroys the sense of stability that people have as they try to do the right thing and pursue their claims to safety in the United States,” said Elora Mukherjee, a professor at Columbia Law School and director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic. “I literally have clients from New Jersey to Texas who have been detained and given up on their cases because the conditions are so intolerable.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson previously denied claims that there are “subprime environments” in ICE detention facilities.
“Pending asylum cases do not confer any legal status in the United States. If a person enters our country illegally, they are subject to detention or deportation. Each illegal alien receives due process,” DHS said in a statement.
“USCIS’ top priority continues to be the inspection and vetting of all aliens seeking to come to, live in, or work in the United States,” the statement said, referring to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the DHS agency responsible for legal immigration. The department declined to provide data on how many asylum seekers with active infections were detained under the Trump administration.
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Although Nice was able to secure the release of six of her clients, asylum seekers from all over the country remain in detention, including the husband of a woman named Tatiana.
She said the life she had built for her husband and two daughters in Florida for more than a decade was torn apart in December when her husband failed to return home from work as a handyman. The family has sought asylum after fleeing Ecuador and says they have faced death threats for their political comments. Tatiana, a member of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, a membership organization that serves asylum seekers in the United States, asked that her full name not be published for fear of retaliation from immigrants.
“It feels overwhelming and suffocating. I’m a single mom with two daughters right now, trying to make ends meet with rent and food,” she told NBC News in Spanish, adding that she works 11 to 12 hours a day. “We count every penny to make sure we cover everything.”
The detention also forever changed the life of his daughter, an honor roll student in high school who dreamed of attending college in the United States. The daughter is currently looking for a job to help her family. Tatiana is worried that she won’t have enough money to start university soon.
“She tells me, ‘Mom, don’t worry, everything will be fine,'” Tatyana said, her voice hoarse. “But my heart is breaking because I don’t know if I’m going to be okay.”
Since his arrest in December, Tatiana’s husband has been transferred to other detention centers, including one in Florida known as Alligator Alcatraz, where detainees have complained of unsanitary conditions, mosquito swarms and a lack of medical care. The government denies allegations about poor conditions at the facility.
“They kept my husband with papers for voluntary deportation,” Tatyana said.
They are still fighting for their husband’s release.
“He is devastated to see how difficult everything is for us financially. He feels helpless,” she said. “We’re trying to encourage him. We’re trying to tell him this won’t last forever and God will provide a solution.”
The conditions were too harsh for Cesar Pulido, who agreed to voluntarily leave the country in February after more than six months in detention.
He and his son, Cesar Andres Caicedo Hincapie, 19, were in the midst of an asylum case when ICE arrested Pulido. The reason was not made clear to them.
“When we first came here, we had nothing, so we started building a life from scratch,” Caicedo Hincapie told NBC News. “School was hard, his job was hard, culture and language was hard, and we were getting somewhere and already starting to build something. When this happened, it just felt like my life stopped. It stopped my father’s life.”
Now Caicedo Hincapie, who worked long hours in a warehouse to pay rent and legal fees, has lost the work permit he was granted under his father’s asylum case, which ended with an agreement for voluntary deportation. It remains unclear when his father will be deported from the US
Pulido told NBC News from a Texas jail that he fled Colombia with his son because he feared for his life due to political persecution. They said in Spanish that they were doing everything they could to “make things move in the right direction” in the United States.
“I have never committed a crime here or in my home country, but I have no idea how long I will be detained here,” he said before agreeing to be deported.
“I’m being tried as if I were a criminal,” he said. “Here they treat me like a criminal.”
DHS said in a statement, without providing evidence, that Pulido was “part of a South American theft ring operating throughout Southern California.” The agency has not said Mr. Pulido has been charged or convicted of a crime. The company did not respond to a request for comment on the details of the allegations.
“He entered the United States as a B-2 tourist in 2023 under the Biden administration and overstayed his visa,” the statement said, adding that Pulido “will remain in ICE custody until removed from the United States.”
“No asylum application will be a bar to immigration enforcement,” DHS said.
Last month, the agency proposed rules to deny work permits to asylum seekers while their applications are being processed, in a further major overhaul of the asylum system.
“For too long, fraudulent asylum claims have been an easy path to work in the United States, overwhelming the immigration system with meritless claims,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement announcing the proposed rule. “Aliens have no right to work while we process asylum claims. The Trump Administration is increasing vetting of asylum seekers and restoring integrity to the asylum and work authorization process.”
Caicedo Hincapie said he would like to work with his lawyer to see if he can apply for a visa and graduate from university.
“I’m scared. I really don’t know how to protect myself,” he says. “I never expected something like this to happen.”
Conchita Cruz, co-executive director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, echoed similar sentiments.
“It’s a shock not only for the person and their family, but also for the surrounding community and the people who depend on them, who never imagined something like this would happen,” she said.
