Newly released federal data indicate that a clear majority of illegal immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during President Donald Trumps first year back in office had prior criminal charges or convictions.
According to The Post Millennial, citing internal Department of Homeland Security figures reported by CBS News, 60 percent of those taken into ICE custody were previously charged with or convicted of a crime. The same internal data show that 14 percent of those arrested had been charged with or convicted of violent offenses, a subset that does not capture a wide range of serious non-violent crimes.
The numbers are drawn from detailed DHS profiles of illegal immigrants detained by the agency, but CBS presentation left key questions unanswered. A graphic from CBS News displayed the breakdown of charges and convictions, yet it was unclear whether the 60 percent figure included only offenses committed in the United States or also accounted for criminal histories abroad.
If foreign criminal records were excluded, the true share of criminal aliens in custody would almost certainly be higher, underscoring long-standing conservative concerns about border security and vetting failures. CBS News chose to emphasize the 14 percent violent-crime statistic in its headline, even though violent crime does not include offenses such as drug trafficking, DUI, or child pornography.
The data also sit against the backdrop of a justice system that often masks the severity of criminal conduct through plea bargaining. An individual may be arrested for assault and drug charges but may take a plea agreement related only to the drug charges in order to avoid a potentially longer prison sentence, leaving official records that understate the original behavior.
Local law-enforcement practices can further distort the picture, particularly in progressive jurisdictions that are politically invested in downplaying crime. Some police departments, as seen in places like Washington, DC, will deal out lesser charges sometimes in an effort to manipulate crime statistics, making it even harder to gauge the full extent of criminality among illegal immigrants.
The White House, pushing back on CBS framing, posted to X, Fake News. Here's a few crimes categorized as 'non-violent': Drug trafficking, human smuggling, child porn, fraud, DUI, burglary, etc. The article even admits 60% had criminal charges or convictions (though it's actually ~70%). They're CRIMINALS and they're NOT welcome here."
For Americans demanding secure borders and the rule of law, the unresolved question is not whether criminal aliens are being apprehended, but how many more remain at large due to lenient policies and selective reporting.
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