🌊 Who Is ICE Detaining?

We break down the figures to see whether ICE is focusing on the “worst of the worst”

Dolores Bustamante does not fit the “worst of the worst” ICE detainee stereotype.

The 54-year-old grandmother has been in America for 23 years since she crossed the porous Bush-era border with her daughter to escape an abusive husband in Mexico. She spent years traveling between Florida and the Carolinas, working the various harvests. Eventually, she settled in western New York, where she pruned apple trees in the spring and picked them in the fall.

In 2014, Bustamante applied for asylum, citing her husband – who had threatened to kill her – and crime. In 2017, her son was found murdered in Mexico after being deported there. But her claim was denied in 2020, putting her into limbo. She has since been checking in weekly using the immigration app, per ICE instructions.

Last week, Bustamante received a notice: Come to the ICE office in Buffalo, NY, in person. While she had received two such orders in the past, this time felt different.

“People are telling me not to go,” she wrote in a Substack article published on Tuesday.

She continued:

But I will go to my check-in because I have always tried to do things the right way…I have been in court for more than ten years trying to do things the right way. I have worked from sunrise to sunset year round feeding thousands of American families. I have worked in every area - planting, pruning, picking apples, pruning trees. I even cook food for the workers. I am the bus driver for the big crews who come for the harvest. I love my work.

Since I have been in this country, I have only done the best I can. I work, I pay my taxes, and I contribute to the economy. I have committed no crimes…And, it’s not safe for me in Mexico. After my son was deported to Mexico, he was killed by cartels. He was found in a vacant lot in 2017. There was no investigation.

On Wednesday morning, Bustamante entered the ICE office, her friends and supporters waiting outside. Four hours later, she sent her friend, Carly Fox, a text: “I’m locked up. I can’t call. I’m locked up. They have me locked up here.”

Fox and other colleagues of Bustamante got in touch with me to discuss Dolores’ situation. In today’s deep-dive, I explore that and investigate a few questions: Who is ICE detaining? Is it the “worst of the worst,” as Trump has said? What share of ICE detainees are convicts?