The arrest of “noncriminal” immigrants more than doubled in the year 2017, according to The Washington Post.

The newspaper reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials detained 37,734 “noncriminal” immigrants in fiscal year 2017.

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ICE arrests increased by 40 percent since President Trump Donald John TrumpObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE took office, the report said. Officials last year also detained a total of 105,736 immigrants who have been convicted of crimes, a number the Post said was a small uptick.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsTrump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status White House officials voted by show of hands on 2018 family separations: report MORE last year instructed prosecutors in the Justice Department to crack down on immigrants who commit crimes, adding that immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally after previously being removed will be “referred for felony prosecution.”

Trump campaigned on a stricter immigration policy and has vowed to erect a barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration.

Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department officials in December pointed to the Alien Incarceration Report, which details the number of immigrants in the U.S. illegally held in federal custody, to make the case for Trump’s long-promised border wall.