Migrants lined up near the border between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, Calif. on May 7.Ryan Sun/The Associated Press
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Background & context
Immigration and claims about crimes committed by migrants have been topics of intense debate during the U.S. presidential election. Republicans have said the Biden administration has failed to secure the southern border, while Democrats have pointed to a bipartisan immigration bill blocked by the GOP.
A new aspect to these claims has been raised by Tony Gonzales, a Republican congressman from Texas. Mr. Gonzales sent a letter dated March 13 to President Joe Biden and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. The letter raises concerns about sanctuary cities “providing safe harbour to violent criminals who have entered our country illegally.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), replied to Mr. Gonzales in a Sept. 25 letter that included statistics on noncitizens charged with crimes or with charges pending. The letter identifies some of these noncitizens as being on ICE’s “detained docket,” and some as being on its “non-detained docket.” Mr. Gonzalez shared the numbers, which Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump also amplified on Truth Social.
But DHS, which oversees ICE, has clarified that the numbers span decades – including the Trump administration and other presidencies – and that those not in its custody may be detained by a state or local agency and not by ICE. It’s a distinction ICE didn’t make in its reply to Mr. Gonzales.
Let’s look more closely at the information provided to Mr. Gonzales and what DHS has said.
Rep. Tony Gonzales in El Paso, Texas on May 12, 2023.GABY VELASQUEZ/USA TODAY NETWORK
What the numbers say
ICE in its letter said that 662,556 people under its supervision were either convicted of crimes or have charges pending as of July 21, 2024; 14,994 people were in ICE custody and 647,562 were not.
Included in the number of people not detained by ICE were those guilty of serious crimes: 13,099 for homicide, 15,811 for sexual assault, 13,423 for weapons offences and 2,663 for stolen vehicles. The single biggest category was for traffic-related offences at 77,074, followed by assault at 62,231 and dangerous drugs at 56,533.
Those not in ICE custody may be held by other authorities. “When we speak of somebody who is not detained, we mean not detained in ICE custody. The individual could be in Folsom State Prison, for example,” Mr. Mayorkas said Monday.
What each side is saying
“The truth is clear – illegal immigrants with a criminal record are coming into our country. The data released by ICE is beyond disturbing, and it should be a wake-up call for the Biden-Harris administration and cities across the country that hide behind sanctuary policies,” Mr. Gonzales said in a news release, referring to pledges by local officials to limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
“The data in this letter is being misinterpreted,” Homeland Security said in a statement to The Globe. “The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this administration. It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners,” DHS said.
Mr. Mayorkas said it was “unfortunate” the information didn’t come with proper explanation, saying that “lends itself to misinterpretation, either deliberate or otherwise.”
DHS also stressed what it has done to deport those without the right to stay in the U.S., saying it had removed or returned more than 700,000 people in the past year, which it said was the highest number since 2010. Homeland Security said it had removed 180,000 people with criminal convictions since Mr. Joe Biden took office.
Information about ICE’s non-detained docket, that is people under the agency’s supervision who aren’t in its custody, is not routinely released. A 2021 ICE budget overview (page 64) said there were 405,786 convicted criminal noncitizens on the non-detained docket as of as of June 5, 2021. A 2017 report on ICE deportations (page 7) said about 368,574 convicted criminals were on the non-detained docket as of August, 2016.
This is an increase of 37,212 people in a five-year period, which included the end of the Obama administration, the Trump presidency and the first months of the Biden presidency.
What are the trends of migrants and crime in the U.S.?
Claims about migrants and crime in the U.S. have been made for years with disturbing individual cases grabbing headlines. Studies by academics and think tanks have shown that immigrants do not commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans.
Reports by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the Cato Institute have used data gathered by Texas in studies. A 2019 Cato report said “illegal immigrants were 47 per cent less likely to be convicted of a crime than native-born Americans and legal immigrants were about 65 per cent less likely to be convicted of a crime than native-born Americans.”
The Texas Department of Public Safety checks and records the immigration status of all arrests in the state.
An analysis published in May by the Brennan Center for Justice looked at a range of reports, studies and data and said that “research does not support the view that immigrants commit crime or are incarcerated at higher rates than native-born Americans.”
With a report by the Associated Press